5G effect fizzles out at Apple: Wall Street is hit by vaccine setback

The imminent introduction of a corona vaccine is keeping Wall Street investors engaged. But an unexplained illness in the tests of the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson slows down euphoria. Apple is also suffering despite four new iPhones.

A setback in the development of a coronavirus vaccine has hit Wall Street. The US standard value index Dow Jones and the broader S&P 500 each fell half a percent on Tuesday to 28,704 and 3517 points, respectively. The technology-heavy Nasdaq, however, held up 0.2 percent. Because of an unexplained illness of a test person, the US company had to Johnson & Johnson (J&J) suspend testing for a corona vaccine.

"This is a reminder to those betting on a quick time to market that it won't be as fast as the government wants it to be believed," said Rick Meckler, partner at asset manager Cherry Lane. J&J shares lost 2.6 percent. Even an increase in sales and profit in the quarter did not change that.

Meanwhile, J&J competitor is planning Novavax the development of a combined corona / flu vaccine. However, this will probably only be used after the pandemic. Novavx shares nevertheless rose by almost eight percent.

Light and shadow in economic data

Another negative factor for the mood on the stock market was the surprisingly small increase in consumer prices, which signals a weak economic recovery. At the same time, hopes of a quick agreement on a new US stimulus package are fading, said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at brokerage firm AvaTrade. Neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives seemed willing to compromise.

The Republicans in the Senate want to vote on aid on Monday, but only in the amount of 500 billion dollars. The Democrats insist on $ 2.2 trillion in aid. With this in mind, some investors turned to the "safe haven" of government bonds. This depressed the return on the ten-year T-bonds to 0.731 percent. Others stocked up on the world's reserve currency and helped Dollar index, which reflects the exchange rate to major currencies, at an exchange rate increase of 0.5 percent to 93.524 points. Because this makes gold less attractive to investors outside of the USA, the price of the precious metal in return fell by 1.5 percent to $ 1,892.61 per troy ounce (31.1 grams).

The strong increases provided a ray of hope Chinese foreign trade figures. However, what is decisive for the domestic economy is how consumers behave in the important Christmas business, said financial market expert Sebastian Galy from asset manager Nordea Investments. The China data gave the oil price a tailwind. The US variety WTI increased in price by 0.8 percent to $ 40.27 per barrel (159 liters).

US accounting season is picking up speed

Meanwhile, the big banks JPMorgan and Citigroup ushered in the US accounting season. The former increased profits surprisingly. In the case of the latter, the surplus collapsed by a good third, but not as much as feared. However, the stocks of the institutes could not escape the general downward trend. They lost up to 4.6 percent. Apple lost around 2.5 percent. The company announced a "new iPhone era" on Tuesday. More than a year after rivals Samsung and Huawei, Apple is now launching 5G-capable smartphones.

The travel and leisure values, which are hit particularly hard by the Corona restrictions, also came under selling pressure. So the title slipped from the cruise operator Carnival or the casino operator Wynn by up to 7.8 percent.

At Blackrock In contrast, investors rewarded the surprisingly large profit increase. The world's largest asset manager owes this to its fee income, commented analyst Daniel Fannon of the investment bank Jefferies. The other items were in line with expectations. Blackrock titles went up by almost five percent.

Papers moved by a good three percent Walt Disney in front. The entertainment group is rebuilding its media business and wants to promote its streaming services like Disney + more. The analysts of the Bank Goldman Sachs praised this step as strategically sensible.