Dow Jones closes in positive territory
Weak economy makes investors nervous
04/05/2023, 10:45 p.m
Whether service sector or industry – the US economy is weakening. Tech stocks are under pressure. Recession fears are spreading among stockbrokers. However, there is also some hope regarding the Fed’s interest rate policy.
Further weak US economic data have dampened sentiment on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Index the standard values were 0.24 percent higher at 33,482.72 points. The broader one S&P 500 gave a 0.25 percent to 4090.38 points. The index of the technology exchange Nasdaq lost 1.07 percent to 11,996.86 jobs. According to analysts, economic figures for the past two days have fueled fears of a recession.
After Tuesday’s fall in US industry orders, the service sector purchasing managers’ index published on Wednesday “continued the series,” said Konstantin Oldenburger, an analyst at broker CMC Markets. The index fell to 51.2 points – the lowest level in more than two years. Experts polled by Reuters had expected a decline to 54.5 points from 55.1 points in February. The barometer shows growth beyond 50 points.
The data from the personnel service provider ADP on job growth in the US private sector in March also caused concern. At 145,000 new jobs, they were weaker than the average analyst forecast for an increase of 200,000 jobs. “Wall Street investors see that the economy is indeed slowing down,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at analysis firm CFRA in New York.
The fear of recession outweighs the hope that the weak data could prompt the US Federal Reserve to make smaller rate hikes. The ADP data is expected to herald the government’s official jobs report at the end of the week, which will include public sector jobs in addition to private sector jobs. The economists polled by Reuters expect an increase of 240,000 jobs – after 311,000 in February. Since the stock exchanges in this country are closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, investors can only react to this on Tuesday.
Concerns about the economy put technology stocks under pressure. Industry giants like Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix and the Facebook mother Meta lost between 0.86 and 3.67 percent. For other individual stocks, the stock rose by Johnson&Johnson down 4.52 percent to $165.66. A subsidiary of the US pharmaceutical and consumer goods manufacturer has again applied for bankruptcy protection in the scandal surrounding suspected asbestos-contaminated baby powder.
A downgrade, on the other hand, set the Albemarle– Stock under pressure. The papers of the world’s largest lithium producer lost 6.12 percent to $ 196.75. The experts from the analyst firm BofA Global Research have set the title to “Underperform” after previously “Neutral”. The target price was also lowered to $195 from $262 previously. The reason is, among other things, the prospect of a decline in the lithium spot price in China.