Wall Street starts optimistically
“Barbie” success fuels Mattel stock
07/24/2023, 11:09 p.m
The PR strategy works: “Barbie” becomes the most successful theatrical release of the year – and boosts the prices of Mattel and Warner Bros. Meanwhile, the prospect of strong tech balance sheets gives the Dow an upswing. But experts urge caution.
Hopes for strong balance sheets from big tech companies brightened sentiment on Wall Street at the start of the week. The leading US index Dow Jones closed 0.5 percent higher at 35,411 points. The tech-heavy one Nasdaq advanced 0.2 percent to 14,058 points and the broad S&P 500 0.4 percent to 4554 jobs.
The fire in an electric truck from the US manufacturer sent the individual values Nikola the stock plummeted. The papers of the struggling e-truck builder lost 4.8 percent. The success of the film “Barbie” gave the mattel-Share boost. Titles from the maker of the best-selling doll were up 1.8 percent. The producer’s papers Warner Bros advanced by a good one percent. The film grossed $155 million in its first weekend in the US. This made it the most successful theatrical release of 2023.
The business figures of the software developer Microsoft and the Google mother Alphabet are expected on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Facebook mother Meta opens her books. “The US technology sector is in earnings season and with many stocks soaring, investors are looking for reasons to stay bullish,” said Konstantin Oldenburger, an analyst at brokerage CMC Markets. But he urged caution. “With all of these stocks posting stellar year-to-date gains, even small disappointments in earnings and outlook could trigger increased profit-taking.”
Interest rate decision imminent
Investors are also eagerly awaiting the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on Wednesday. The markets have braced themselves for a rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point. “We will know more on Wednesday evening as to how Fed Chairman Powell explains this and whether the July interest rate hike will be the last in this cycle,” said Juergen Molnar, strategist at broker RoboMarkets. However, several analysts urged caution. “Policymakers will proceed with extreme caution, although the data over the past month or two has given them great encouragement,” said Craig Erlam of trading house Oanda.
Oil prices trended upwards again. The North Sea variety Brent and the light US variety WTI rose by a good two percent to $82.88 and $78.89 per barrel (159 liters) respectively. They continued the rise at the end of last week and reached their highest level in three months. “There have been a number of factors that have contributed to the recent gains, including Saudi Arabia’s output cut, Russia’s export cutback and economic data,” Erlam said.
“It will be interesting to see how Brent reacts around the $82.50-$83.50 range.” While the grade hasn’t traded at these levels for nearly three months, it hasn’t significantly broken through the 200-day moving average since the summer of 2022.