US stock markets are heading for a friendly open on Tuesday. However, the willingness to buy was limited due to mixed data from the real estate industry and negatively received company figures.
Three quarters of an hour before the start of trading, Broker IG estimated the leading index Dow Jones Industrial to be 0.6 percent higher at 31,266 points and the technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 0.9 percent higher at 11,984 points. Both indices slipped into the red at the beginning of the week, so they failed to build on Friday’s stabilization.
The US construction industry also developed weakly in June. The number of building permits and the number of newly started houses each decreased. The decline in permits was at least smaller than feared, even if an increase in housing starts had previously been expected.
At Johnson & Johnson, it was enough for a pre-market price increase of 1.2 percent, although the healthcare group lowered its annual targets for the second time due to the strong US dollar – this also slowed down sales growth in the second quarter. Net income fell nearly a quarter due to higher tax provisions and rising expenses. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share, which drew a lot of attention from analysts, came in better than expected.
The world’s largest aviation and armaments group, Lockheed Martin, is also looking at the current year more cautiously than before. Last quarter was said to have been impacted not least by supply chain issues. As Lockheed-Martin shares fell 3.5 percent, its competitors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon were also hit, dropping 2 percent and 1 percent respectively.
According to numbers, the course slide at IBM was five and a half percent. In the second quarter, the computer dinosaur was able to significantly increase sales due to the strong demand for cloud software and IT services. Overall, the figures were well above analysts’ expectations. However, the strong US dollar, without which sales would have risen even more sharply, meant that the outlook for the year was only subdued.
The shares in the Chinese travel service provider Didi, which are listed in New York, fell by 0.3 percent and were therefore relatively moderate. Agreement is emerging in the smoldering dispute between Uber’s competitor and the Chinese authorities over data security. The Wall Street Journal (“WSJ”), citing people familiar with the matter, reported that supervisors could fine Didi more than $1 billion. Didi could then get the green light for the planned second listing in Hong Kong.
After the pre-market price increase of one and a half percent, investors already distributed some advance laurels at Netflix. After the market close, the streaming service presents its interim report.
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