Volatile Wall Street: The sell-off in tech stocks continues

Those who thought the tech sell-off on Wall Street was over will be taught better. Microsoft and Apple each recorded a big minus – the Nasdaq, Dow and S&P 500 sag.

Wall Street has turned into the red, leading the tech sector. The high volatility in technology stocks in recent times is already noticeable, it said. Sometimes the sector values ​​marched ahead, sometimes they lagged behind. Traders were not really surprised by the recent weakness in technology stocks. Because the valuation of the sector is still high – too high for some market observers. "A decline of this magnitude compared to the high sounds like a steep correction. But it turns out to be small when you consider that the index has recovered by 83 percent compared to the lows in March in just five months," said chief market strategist Hussein Sayed von FXTM with a view to the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100.

While Dow Jones Index Turned 1.5 percent to 27,535 points in the red, the fell S&P 500 by 1.8 percent. The indices on the technology-heavy Nasdaq lost up to 2.1 percent. In the Dow, the technology stocks Microsoft and Apple were at the bottom of the table with deliveries of 2.8 and 3.3 percent respectively. At Nyse there were 1,014 (Wednesday: 2,292) course winners and 2,005 (742) losers. 71 (50) shares closed unchanged. Traders pointed to the escalating trade dispute between China and the USA as the main negative factor. According to the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, over 70 percent of US companies expect operational difficulties due to the tensions in the next three to five years.

The political standstill in Washington had a negative effect on the mood. The current move by the Republicans in the Senate to new corona aid met with little approval from the Democrats. An agreement did not seem to be in sight. The situation on the US labor market remained tense and did not encourage buying stocks. Contrary to market expectations, the weekly initial applications were unchanged – high. Analysts had forecast a slight decline.

Euro follows stocks to the south

At the Foreign exchange market the dollar index lost 0.2 percent. Based on producer prices, inflation in the USA showed a moderate upward trend in August. Economists had expected somewhat less inflation. The decisive factor for the weakness of the dollar, however, was the strength of the euro, even if it came to an end later on. As sentiment on the stock market deteriorated, the dollar gained traction as a supposedly safe haven.

The main focus on the foreign exchange market was the European Central Bank (ECB), which did not change its monetary policy. However, the euro has risen somewhat in the meantime. Because ECB President Christine Lagarde saw no immediate need for action on the exchange rate for the ECB despite the recent strength of the euro. The euro briefly jumped above the $ 1.19 mark and recently came back to $ 1.1816. In the day's low, the common currency was around $ 1.1801.

Inventory build-up puts pressure on oil market

With taxes they showed up Oil prices. For the first time in seven weeks, oil stocks in the US rose on a weekly basis, although analysts had forecast a decline. The data from the private American Petroleum Institute (API) published the day before had also shown a build-up of stocks. The price for a barrel of the US variety WTI fell 2 percent to $ 37.30, the European reference oil of the variety Brent fell 1.8 percent to $ 40.06.

Of the Gold price turned negative with the recovering dollar. The price of the troy ounce fell in late business by 0.2 percent to $ 1,942. The precious metal was supported by the ECB's statements, which held out the prospect of a long phase of low interest rates with an increasing money supply.

At the Bond market the prices rose with the declining share prices. The yield on ten-year US Treasuries fell 2.5 basis points to 0.68 percent.

Tiffany shares with LVMH counterclaim in view

Won among the individual values Tiffany 0.4 percent. LVMH wants to respond to Tiffany's announcement with a counterclaim for "crisis mismanagement". The day before, the French luxury goods company had effectively canceled the agreed $ 16.2 billion takeover of Tiffany. In response, Tiffany had announced that she wanted to enforce the deal in court.

Navistar shot up 13.8 percent. Traton had increased its offer for the remaining shares in the US commercial vehicle manufacturer and is now offering a total of $ 3.6 billion. Citigroup shares lost 0.9 percent. CEO Michael Corbat will retire in February after about eight years at the helm. Jane Fraser, who has headed the global private customer business since 2019, is to be his successor. Fraser is the first woman to head a major US bank.

The commercial vehicle manufacturer's titles Nikola fell 11.3 percent. The short seller Hindenburg accused the company of "complicated fraud" in a publication. GameStop collapsed 15.2 percent. The retailer scared investors off with second quarter numbers below market expectations.