Boerse Express – ROUNDUP/New York Stocks Close: Losses

NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock markets ended Thursday with price losses. The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine and disappointing data on sentiment in the US service sector wiped out initial price gains. Despite renewed negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Russian airstrikes on the neighboring country intensified. This, coupled with Western sanctions against Russia, pushed oil prices to their highest level since 2008 and fueled renewed fears of a recession.

Der Dow Jones Industrial closed down 0.29 percent at 33,794.66 points. The market-wide S&P 500
fell by 0.53 percent to 4363.49 points. For the tech-heavy select index Nasdaq 100 it went down by 1.46 percent to 14035.21 points.

Sentiment in the US service sector deteriorated significantly in February. The purchasing manager index of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell by 3.4 points to 56.5 points compared to January. Analysts, on the other hand, had expected an improvement to an average of 61.0 points.

Other economic data, on the other hand, was positive. US industrial companies received more orders than expected in January. In addition, the situation on the labor market – measured by the number of weekly initial applications for unemployment benefits – improved more than forecast. Furthermore, the productivity of the US economy recovered significantly in the final quarter of 2021 from the decline in the summer months.

On the company side, there were a few quarterly reports that caused larger price movements. This is how the latest annual figures and the medium-term outlook of the electronics retailer Best Buy came
very well received by investors. Shares rose 9.2 percent.

For the Kroger papers ultimately went up by 11.6 percent after the supermarket chain had performed better than expected in terms of earnings last year. In addition, the company’s targets for the new financial year exceeded market forecasts.

The Euro fell to $ 1.1033 in US trading, its lowest level since May 2020. The common currency was last traded at $ 1.1065. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.1076 (Wednesday: 1.1106) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9029 (0.9004) euros.

US Treasury bonds posted modest gains. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) recently rose by 0.16 percent to 127.52 points. The yield on 10-year government bonds fell to 1.85 percent./edh/he

 ISIN  US2605661048  US6311011026  US78378X1072

AXC0481 2022-03-03/22:39

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