Markets: Stocks in New York with heavy losses

First, the markets in the USA had recovered significantly, but then things went downhill again: There are probably several reasons for the increased nervousness among investors.

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Easy to win, easy to lose: After a strong recovery in the middle of the week, the US stock exchanges fell again massively on Thursday.

The more than three percent increase in yields on ten-year US government bonds caused increased nervousness. In addition, productivity in the US economy slumped more sharply than feared in the first quarter, more than at any time since 1947.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial lost 3.12 percent to 32,997.97 points. This not only dissolved the gains from the previous day, but also those from the beginning of the week were almost completely wiped out. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) raised the key interest rate significantly on Wednesday, but at the same time put a damper on the possibility of even more significant hikes.

The S&P 500 fell 3.56 percent on Thursday to 4146.87 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell again to its lowest level in just over a year, then closed 5.06 percent lower at 12,850.55 points, its biggest one-day loss since September 2020.

Quarterly reports at a glance

Among the individual values, quarterly reports were again in focus. Ebay shares on the Nasdaq fell 11.7 percent. Concerns about growth weighed on the sales platform’s stocks. Shopify fell by 15 percent after missing profit expectations and an announced acquisition – the largest in the company’s history of the e-commerce platform. Concerns about declining online purchases at the end of the corona pandemic are now also increasingly pressing Amazon. The shares of the world’s largest online retailer lost almost 7.6 percent.

The breakfast cereal manufacturer Kellogg, on the other hand, reported a surprisingly strong quarter and raised its sales outlook. The share certificates then rose by 3.5 percent. While Nikola reported a smaller quarterly loss than a year ago, it fell short of expectations. Market observers attributed the fact that the shares of the electric truck manufacturer rose by 6.4 percent to the recent price weakness. Only the day before, the papers had fallen to a two-month low.

Rush at lithium producers

The papers from lithium producers, which Tesla boss Elon Musk had recently focused on in view of the importance of the raw material for electric cars, were also in demand. After Livent, which had shot up 30 percent the day before and is now down 1.5 percent, investors are now turning to Albemarle. The specialty chemicals group clearly exceeded market expectations with its quarterly figures and significantly increased its annual targets. The papers then gained almost ten percent on the Nyse.

The euro initially weakened in US trade before recovering to $1.0545. The European Central Bank set the reference rate in Frankfurt at 1.0568 (Wednesday: 1.0531) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.9463 (0.9496) euros.

dpa

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