NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock markets have gone into reverse after the recent rally. Stockbrokers attributed the clear losses to the first results of the US midterm elections, disappointing company figures and the recent turmoil in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell below $17,000 for the first time since 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) crumbled slowly but steadily in trading on Wednesday and closed near its daily low down 1.95 percent at 32,513.94 points. The market-wide S&P 500 lost 2.08 percent to 3748.57 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 fell 2.37 percent to 10,797.55 points.
The focus was on the intermediate elections, the so-called midterms. According to initial results, the Republican wave of success that was initially expected did not materialize. Attention now shifts to Thursday’s US inflation data, which will provide investors with clues to the future monetary policy hope for the US Federal Reserve. “Elections are important, but other factors are more important to markets and the economy,” said Keith Lerner, investment strategist at Truist Wealth.
The quarterly figures and the outlook from Walt Disney were very negative in the middle of the week. The papers fell by more than 13 percent and were thus the clear bottom of the Dow Jones index. The entertainment group groans under high costs. Disney’s streaming division made a quarterly loss of $1.5 billion. JPMorgan analyst Philip Cusick described the quarter as mixed overall, with the weaker margins of the amusement parks being painful.
Meta shares (Meta Platforms (ex Facebook)), on the other hand, surged 5.2 percent as the leader in the Nasdaq 100. The Facebook group dismisses the largest downsizing more than 11,000 employees throughout its history. CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the urgency of increasing efficiency. More attention needs to be paid to capital.
China expanded corona restrictions in the district with Apple’s world’s largest iPhone factory. This could further impact iPhone shipments in the near future. Apple shares responded with a minus of 3.3 percent.
The titles of the media group News Corp (News) and the credit platform Upstart Holdings (Upstart) went down sharply, each according to quarterly figures. The former fell by 5.1 percent, the latter collapsed by more than 10 percent after clearly missing analyst estimates.
The euro also lost ground in US trading. Most recently, the common currency cost 1.0015 US dollars. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate at 1.0039 (Tuesday: 0.9996) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9961 (1.0004) euros.
US government bonds gained after a somewhat weaker start. The futures contract for ten-year bonds (T-Note Future) recently rose by 0.34 percent to 110.66 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 4.10 percent./edh/he