NEW YORK (awp international) – Surprisingly solid quarterly reports and outlook from the two heavyweights Apple and Amazon have brought some relief to the US stock markets before the weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial rose 0.97 percent on Friday to 32,845.13 points, its highest level since early June.
On a weekly basis, the Dow gained 3 percent. The index ended the historically rather weak stock market month of July with a premium of 6.7 percent, which is the strongest July for the Dow in twelve years. Share prices were recently supported by the expectation that the US Federal Reserve might be more cautious when it comes to raising interest rates.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 1.81 percent to 12,947.98 points on Friday. July was the best stock market month since April 2020 with a plus of 13 percent. The market-wide S&P 500 gained 1.42 percent on Friday to 4130.29 points. There was also positive news about the economy, with US consumer sentiment brightening somewhat more than expected in July.
Amazon shares are up more than 10 percent. The world’s largest online retailer significantly increased sales in the second quarter despite high inflation and fears of a recession. Analyst Lee Horowitz from Deutsche Bank called Amazon “the port in the economic storm”. July was the best month for Amazon’s share price since October 2009, gaining 27 percent.
Apple has so far defied economic concerns and logistics bottlenecks with its iPhone business. In the past quarter, the iPhone was able to grow in a smartphone market that had shrunk overall. The shares gained 3.3 percent.
Totally different Intel. After a slump in sales and red figures in the past quarter, the chip giant has conceded its annual targets. Expert Stacy Rasgon from the investment house Bernstein called the profitability “terrifying” and the new annual targets “nasty”. At minus 8.6 percent, the shares found themselves lagging behind at the end of the Dow.
Statements from the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble were also not well received, the share was the second-biggest loser in the index at minus 6.2 percent. The group expects headwinds from high inflation this year.
A record profit by the oil company Exxon Mobil was met with applause from investors. Soaring oil and gas prices gave the company a $17.9 billion profit in the second quarter. The course rose by 4.6 percent. The figures from the counterparty Chevron, which also increased the multi-billion dollar share buyback, were even better. Chevron rose 8.9 percent at the top of the Dow.
The euro recovered most of its initial losses, trading at $1.0222 in late trading. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.0198 (Thursday: 1.0122) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9806 (0.9880) euros.
The US bond market went up. The 10-year Treasury futures contract rose 0.08 percent to 121.08 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds was 2.66 percent./bek/he
— By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX —
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