Thursday February 18, 2021
Investors nervous, Dow in the red
Fear of inflation paralyzes Wall Street
A harsh winter, the corona crisis and tenacious fears of inflation make for a significantly cold trading day on Wall Street. Investors are nervous, but some companies are still setting record numbers: bed dealers and arms manufacturers.
On Wall Street, the mood among investors remained nervous. The focus was on disappointing Walmart numbers, price losses in tech stocks and the ongoing discussion about a return of inflation. The recently record-high New York indices were all able to reduce their minus significantly. Of the Dow Jones Industrial went 0.38 percent lower at 31,493.3 points from trading. The market breadth S&P 500 fell in the end by 0.44 percent to 3913.9 points. The technology-heavy selection index Nasdaq 100 had even lost 1.6 percent at times, in the end his discount was then 0.45 percent to 13,637.5 points.
A sharp increase in the amount of money, the economic stimulus package planned by US President Joe Biden and the soaring commodity prices are some of the ingredients for an "explosive inflation cocktail", as the experts at the Metzler bank wrote. The bond market, which was influenced by this, stabilized over the course of the day, as did US equities. The ten-year US bonds recently returned less than 1.30 percent.
Walmart disappoints
Walmart stocks fell 6.5 percent. The retail giant shocked with weak fourth quarter figures and a poor outlook. The group also announced wage increases. Blue apron even fell by 16.2 percent. The food supplier sees itself on a steady growth path. But society doesn't make money. Another loss was posted in the fourth quarter.
Marriott International gained 0.5 percent. The hotel operator was in the red and missed the market's sales estimates in the final quarter of 2020. However, the company expects a recovery in the current year. Sleep Number gained 1 percent. The bed retailer posted record results. Sales also exceeded market forecasts. The Twilio-Business figures were also very well received. The software company increased its sales in the fourth quarter by 65 percent year-on-year – more than analysts had expected. On an adjusted basis, Twilio was surprisingly in the black. The titles rise by 7.7 percent.
Oil prices in the red, record for arms manufacturers
The gun manufacturer Sturm Ruger & Co reported the highest sales in years and almost quadrupled the profit compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The paper rose 0.9 percent. A congressional finance committee interviewed those involved in the recent capricious rates of Game stop were involved. The video game retailer's stock slumped 11 percent.
The ongoing cold spell in the USA initially supported the Oil prices. The crude oil inventory data also tended to support prices with a significant decline. But since refineries are also paralyzed because of the cold and therefore no demand for crude oil for a short time, prices turned into the red. As on the previous day, there was also concern that Saudi Arabia might bring more oil to the market. This was followed by speculation about the expansion of production from other large producing countries of Opec +.
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