Nasdaq is falling significantly
Wall Street is taking a breather
January 3, 2024, 11:00 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
After a sobering start to the year, the US stock markets are falling again. Investors are cashing in on technology stocks in particular. The publication of the Fed’s latest meeting minutes does not bring any relief to prices.
As was the case the day before, the US stock markets closed weaker after profit-taking. The Dow Jones Index the standard values fell 0.8 percent lower at 37,430 points. The broader one S&P 500 also lost 0.8 percent to just under 4,705 points. The technology stock market index Nasdaq fell by 1.2 percent to 14,592 points. “We’ve had quite a rally from the October lows,” said portfolio strategist Garrett Melson of Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. Therefore, a “little breather” is not surprising.
In the end, the eagerly awaited meeting minutes of the US Federal Reserve from December played little role for trading. While stock markets expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged in January, futures traders have priced in a 67 percent chance of a 25 basis point rate cut in March. The tensions in the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas and the developments in the Ukraine war are also causing uncertainty among investors.
The dollar, which is sought after in times of crisis, was also in demand on the foreign exchange market on Wednesday. The Dollar index gained 0.2 percent to 102.47 points. Meanwhile, the price of the cryptocurrency, which had recently risen sharply, fell Bitcoin by up to 8.7 percent to $41,206. At the close of trading in New York it was 5.2 percent lower. Shortly before a landmark decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a Bitcoin spot ETF, investors are obviously getting cold feet, said market analyst Timo Emden from Emden Research.
Airlines suffer from high oil prices
Meanwhile, reports of a disruption in Libya’s main oil field drove up prices for crude oil up by more than three percent. Two engineers said protests had led to a partial reduction in production at the 300,000-barrel-per-day Sharara oil field. The rise in oil prices hit airline stocks. The papers from Delta Airlines, JetBlue, United Airlines and American Airlines gave up up to 6.5 percent.
The papers also went downhill Moderna, which lost about 3.5 percent. Investors cashed in after Tuesday’s strong gains, as an optimistic outlook pushed up the vaccine maker’s shares.
An upgrade gave the titles of Verizon Boost. The shares of the US telecommunications group climbed by 0.7 percent. The experts at the investment bank KeyBanc have set it to “Overweight” after previously “Sector Weight”. A success in a study of a drug for blood diseases drove up the pharmaceutical company’s shares Agios Pharmaceuticals up 5.2 percent. The drug, mitapivat, met both primary and secondary objectives in a late-stage study in adult patients with an inherited blood disorder, according to the company.