Wall Street shakes off coronavirus

NEW YORK (AFN) – The stock exchanges in New York left the trading day with good profits. This showed a recovery after the sharp price losses on Monday when concerns about the spread of the new corona virus weighed heavily on sentiment on Wall Street. Investors’ attention was mainly focused on the quarterly and annual figures of a large number of large companies.

The Dow-Jones index ended 0.7 percent higher at 28,722.85 points. The broad S&P 500 climbed 1 percent to 3276.25 points and the technology level meter Nasdaq won 1.4 percent to 9269.68 points.

The aviation sector recovered somewhat from the recent declines due to the corona virus, with profits for companies such as Delta Air Lines and American Airlines up to 3 percent.

Adhesive tape

Industry concern 3M came up with results. In the last three months of last year, the maker of, for example, Post-Its and adhesive tape posted a lower profit than experts had expected. The 3M share fell by 5.7 percent. Industry conglomerate United Technologies also opened the books and climbed 1.2 percent.

Defense company Lockheed Martin saw profit and sales increase, helped by increased production of F35 fighter jets and increased demand for missile systems. Lockheed rose more than 1 percent. Xerox reported to have significantly reduced its debt. The copier and printer manufacturer, which has been trying to take over its counterpart HP for a while, also posted higher profits on lower sales. Xerox gained almost 5 percent.

Job market

Furthermore, motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson (minus 3 percent), pharmaceutical company Pfizer (minus 5.1 percent) and truck manufacturer Paccar (plus 2.1 percent) opened the books. Nabeurs comes with Apple including results. The iPhone manufacturer went up 2.8 percent.

In the macroeconomic field, market researcher Conference Board announced that US consumer confidence rose to the highest level in five months this month, helped by labor market optimism in the United States.

The euro was worth $ 1.1022 against $ 1.1010 in Europe. A barrel of American oil rose 0.8 percent in price to $ 53.58. Brent oil was 0.6 percent more expensive at $ 59.65 a barrel.

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