NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – On the US stock market, the indices struggled to find a clear direction on Friday according to economic data. After ups and downs, a slightly positive trend ultimately prevailed.
The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) closed with an increase of 0.07 percent to 37,466.11 points. This means that the US leading index still recorded a loss of 0.6 percent in the first week of the new year. The technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 rose 0.15 percent to 16,305.98 points on Friday. The index, which was particularly strong last year with a plus of 54 percent, fell significantly this week; the weekly balance shows a minus of 3.1 percent. The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 0.18 percent to 4,697.24 points at Friday’s close.
An unexpectedly severe deterioration in sentiment in the US services sector initially gave a boost to prices in early trading because it rekindled the hope that interest rates would soon fall, which had been dampened in the past few days. Previously, even a robust US labor market report for December had failed to put pressure on prices.
After the weak start to the year on the stock markets, there seems to be a little more realism factored into the prices at the moment. The euphoria surrounding possible interest rate cuts has now been reduced to a normal level, emphasized analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from broker CMC Markets.
A report about an anticipated antitrust lawsuit against Apple by the US Department of Justice put some pressure on the technology group’s shares, which had been weak since the beginning of the year. As the New York Times reported, it’s about how the iPhone maker may have used other products and services to protect itself against threats to its core business. Apple closed trading on Friday with a loss of 0.4 percent.
The electric car manufacturer Tesla has to readjust more than 1.6 million of its vehicles in China. The reason is said to be problems with the automatic steering function. The papers fell by 0.2 percent. They had already broken their upward trend since the end of October this week.
The shares of Peloton (Peloton Interactive) significantly expanded their high price gain from the previous day by increasing by 9.6 percent. The price jump was triggered by the announced partnership between the manufacturer of networked fitness equipment and the social media app Tiktok, which is particularly popular among young people worldwide.
According to a press report, the US technology group Synopsys is about to make an official takeover offer for the company ANSYS, which specializes in simulation software. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Synopsys wants to put $400 per Ansys share on the table. On the Nasdaq, Ansys shares ultimately showed little change, while Synopsis fell by 1.1 percent. The price reactions, which are quite clear for a takeover, can be explained by the fact that the newspaper had already reported on the purchase at the end of 2023, but at that time it was still at an early stage.
A takeover is also looming in the energy sector. As the Wall Street Journal wrote, citing people familiar with the matter, Chesapeake Energy is on the verge of acquiring Southwestern Energy. Southwestern gained 7.3 percent, Chesapeake closed 2.9 percent higher.
After the Wall Street close, the euro was paid at $1.0939. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate at 1.0921 (Thursday: 1.0953) dollars, so the dollar cost 0.9156 (0.9129) euros.
On the US bond market, the futures contract for ten-year bonds (T-Note Future) lost 0.27 percent to 111.69 points. In return, the yield on ten-year government securities rose to just over four percent./ajx/he
— By Achim Jüngling, dpa-AFX —