NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – After some high price losses on the Nasdaq technology exchange in early trading, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet & Co largely made up for the losses on Tuesday. After a speech by the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on monetary policy, the courses limited initial losses. The selection index Nasdaq 100 fell by up to 3.5 percent in early trading – and ended up only slightly in the red with 0.22 percent at 13,194.71 points.
The leading index Dow Jones Industrial closed 0.05 percent higher to 31,537.35 points and missed another record high just before the closing bell by a hair’s breadth. The market-wide S&P 500 rose 0.13 percent to 3881.37 points.
Despite rising economic hopes in the financial markets, the Federal Reserve does not want to change its ultra-loose monetary policy. Both inflation and employment are still a long way from the Fed’s goals, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before the Senate Banking Committee. Thereupon the share prices turned up again.
“Powell is dampening inflation worries, but does not intervene directly against the rise in yields,” commented economist Uwe Burkert from the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. For the time being, financial market and economic players could be certain that the advancing economic recovery will not be threatened by changes in monetary policy for a long time to come. With a view to the US money market, investors did not expect key interest rates to rise again in the US until spring 2023.
The catch-up race for Tesla shares was impressive: In the first few minutes of trading, the price fell by more than 13 percent. The course had already come under pressure on Monday. At the significantly lower level, investors took hold of them again, the shares went out of trading with a loss of a good two percent. The price of the manufacturer of electric vehicles had more than doubled from mid-November to the end of January.
The biggest loser in the Dow Jones Industrial was the shares of Home Depot with a loss of a good three percent. Investors reacted disappointed that the DIY chain did not give any concrete statements about the rest of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic. JPMorgan analyst Christopher Horvers criticized the fact that Home Depot had not made any statements about long-term profitability.
The department store chain Macy’s had to accept a profit slump of more than half in the fourth quarter due to the corona pandemic. Net sales for the quarter fell by almost a fifth. However, both indicators exceeded the average expectations of the analysts. After initial losses, the shares turned positive and closed almost four percent higher.
The euro received little impetus from Powell’s speech. After the New York market closed, $ 1.2145 was paid for the common currency. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate at 1.2143 (Monday: 1.2133) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.8235 (0.8242) euros.
The US Treasuries hardly reacted to the statements of the US Federal Reserve chief. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) rose moderately by 0.14 percent to 135.46 points. The yield on the ten-year bond fell accordingly to 1.36 percent. At 1.392 percent, it rose to its highest level in about a year on Monday./bek/he
By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX
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