Wednesday 20th October 2021
Dow Jones with a new record
Vaccine maker Novavax shares collapse
The records tumble again on Wall Street: The Dow Jones climbed to a new high over the course of the year. Positive quarterly reports ensure a good mood. On the other hand, the shareholders of the Novavax company are experiencing a bitter day: the shares of the corona vaccine manufacturer collapse.
The US leading index has it in the middle of the week Dow Jones to another Peak made. At 35,669.69 points, the Dow overcame the previous record high from mid-August. The higher profit targets of the telecommunications giant were well received by investors Verizon and the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories at. This could mean that the quarterly reports season could continue to develop well. At the closing bell, the Dow recorded an increase of 0.43 percent to 35,609.34 points.
The market breadth S&P 500 gained 0.37 percent to 4536.19 points and just barely missed another high. For the tech-savvy Nasdaq 100 it went down moderately by 0.14 percent to 151,388.71 counters. The index is a little further away from the record high of early September. The upward movement was mainly driven by so-called defensive stocks and sectors. These included health stocks, utilities and real estate stocks. Most of the companies in these sectors have stable earnings and comparatively high dividend yields.
That Economic growth in the USA has meanwhile weakened somewhat in several regions, according to the US Federal Reserve. The economy grew at a moderate to moderate pace in the period from the beginning of September to the beginning of October, according to the economic report. In its last report, the Fed spoke of a moderate pace.
Netflix stocks are falling
On the corporate side, the focus remains on the balance sheet season: shares in the streaming service Netflix fell 2.2 percent. Despite an unexpectedly strong third quarter, some observers found a fly in the ointment and criticized the outlook for the final quarter.
Telecom company shares Verizon and the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories were in demand – both companies raised their profit forecasts. Verizon was up 2.4 percent and Abbott Laboratories was up 3.3 percent. At Abbott, analysts praised the strong performance in the Covid-19 test business. The shares of the social image network Pinterest benefited from speculation about its takeover. The online payment service Paypal I am interested, reported the Bloomberg news agency. Pinterest stocks jumped nearly 13 percent while PayPal fell nearly 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the shares of the corona vaccine maker experienced Novavax a price slump of almost 15 percent. According to a report by the online portal Politico, the company is struggling with production difficulties before the drug is approved. As the portal reported with reference to informed circles, there are problems to meet the high quality standards of the regulatory authority.
Of the Euro rose slightly in late US currency trading, most recently trading at $ 1.1651. The European Central Bank had previously set the reference rate at 1.1623 (Tuesday: 1.1655) dollars. The dollar cost 0.86036 (0.8580) euros.