In the middle of the week, the US benchmark index had fallen moderately due to the renewed rise in US bond yields, while the indices on the Nasdaq technology exchange were actually neglected. Higher interest rates for bonds considered safe make stocks, which are considered riskier, less attractive.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which is due in a few hours. This is his last chance to comment on the development of the bond markets before a two-week standstill period begins on the weekend before the next meeting of the central bank’s open market committee, analysts said. This makes important monetary policy decisions such as setting the key interest rate.
There was hardly any potentially price-moving news from companies on Thursday. The shares of Curevac listed in the USA rose pre-market by a good four percent after the pharmaceutical company Novartis had signed a production agreement with the Tübingen-based vaccine manufacturer. Novartis is to produce the mRNA and the active ingredient for the corona vaccine candidate CVnCoV from Curevac. At the end of January, Novartis had already reached a similar agreement with Mainz-based Biontech ./gl/jha/
(AWP)
