NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The strong start to November continued on Friday on the US stock exchanges with another day of gains. The driving force was the monthly labor market data, which supported the idea that the US Federal Reserve has completed its interest rate hikes. A disappointing outlook from Apple weighed on the iPhone company’s shares, but not on the market as a whole.
The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) rose by 0.66 percent to 34,061.32 points, recording its fifth day of gains in a row. In the meantime, it had reached almost 34,164 points, its highest level in a good six weeks. The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 0.94 percent to 4,358.34 points on Friday, while the NASDAQ 100, which is dominated by technology stocks, rose by 1.21 percent to 15,099.49 points. The three indices posted weekly gains of up to 6.5 percent.
A sharp decline in employment growth in the USA gave investors further hope that the interest rate spiral would end. The rising unemployment rate and weakening wage developments reinforced this view. Analyst Bernd Krampen from NordLB assumes that a first one will occur in mid-2024 due to the economic situation Interest rate cut will be necessary. A move in June is now considered priced in on the market.
In Krampen’s opinion, the job engine is running solidly in the adverse environment with increased interest rates, but is apparently no longer running quite as smoothly. The monetary authorities should therefore now wait with their interest rate policy in order not to increase the risk of a “harder economic landing”. The figures confirmed that the interest rate hikes are slowly having an impact on the labor market.
The biggest beneficiaries of the continued good market sentiment on Friday were stocks from the banking sector, which played a top role in their indices. Goldman Sachs was the biggest gainer in the Dow with 4.4 percent. On the broader market, stocks from Morgan Stanley, US Bancorp and Bank of America posted gains of up to 3.8 percent.
The technology giant Apple, on the other hand, disappointed with its sales forecast for the Christmas business and sales development in China. The shares paid tribute to their recent recovery with a discount of half a percent. However, experts did not express dissatisfaction: Michael Ng from the investment bank Goldman Sachs spoke of a solid quarter overall and particularly praised the significantly increased service revenues.
With a major price movement, Expedia shares fell. The online travel portal delighted its investors with a price jump of almost 19 percent. Profit expectations were exceeded in the last quarter. The company also announced a billion-dollar share buyback program.
On the Nasdaq stock exchange, Fortinet shares came under particularly strong pressure, with prices falling by a good 12 percent. The provider of IT security solutions not only disappointed with slightly weaker sales in the third quarter, but also with a corresponding outlook for the final quarter.
On the other hand, one company with a strong price reaction to the figures presented was the online betting provider Draftkings (DraftKings A), whose shares shot up by 16.5 percent. In the third quarter, not only sales exceeded expectations, but also the number of users of the fantasy sports and betting platform.
The euro traded above $1.07 after the jobs data. Most recently, 1.0728 US dollars were paid for one euro. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.0702 (Thursday: 1.0661) dollars. The dollar therefore cost 0.9344 euros.
The prices of US government bonds rose significantly on Friday, as they had on the previous two days. The futures contract for ten-year bonds rose by 0.71 percent to 108.25 points. The correction in yields, however, continued; for government securities of this term it fell to 4.57 percent./tih/he
— By Timo Hausdorf, dpa-AFX —