The Dow Jones index will close the week in the red; goodbye post-election euphoria on Wall Street
DOW JONES futures fell 0.38% to 43,586.20 and S&P 500 futures fell 0.50% to 5,919. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.74% to 20,744.
Today’s moves follow yesterday’s mediocre day on Wall Street, which saw all three major indexes close in the red as the post-election rally appears to be fading. The Dow Jones fell more than 200 points, or 0.47%, the S&P 500 fell 0.60% and the NASDAQ fell 0.64%.
Stocks fell slightly in afternoon trading after Federal Reserve Chairman spoke Jerome Powell said he used the event in Dallas to warn that the central bank was “in no hurry” to cut interest rates. after the last cuts. “Powell made clear that the current strength of the U.S. economy gives the Fed the opportunity to be cautious in its interest rate decisions,” explains Juan J. Fernandez-Figares of Link Gestión, noting that “central bank” Americans should not rush to cut interest rates rates.”
Given the recent declines, the three major New York indexes are ending the week lower: The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9% this week, while the S&P 500 and Dow lost 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively..
“Investors are taking a breath and assessing whether the rally makes sense,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “Right now we don’t see anything on the horizon that could cause stocks to turn around, but investors are always looking around to see what could cause this trend to end.”
On the macroeconomic agenda, investors this Friday will be closely watching October retail sales data, as well as import prices and industrial production, also for October, and the Empire State Manufacturing Index for November.
Among the session’s top stocks, Domino’s Pizza soared 8% ahead of the open after news that Berkshire Hathaway was entering the pizza chain. According to documents filed with the SEC, Warren Buffett’s investment arm bought more than 1.2 million shareswith a stake of $550 million at the end of September.
The opposite was true for Ulta Beauty, whose shares fell more than 4% after it was reported that Berkshire Hathaway had almost completely exited its position in the beauty retailer.
Also falling were shares of Applied Materials, which fell 5% ahead of the report despite a better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter. The burden on the semiconductor equipment manufacturer appears to be on weak earnings forecast for the current quarter. Applied Materials expects $7.15 billion in its fiscal first quarter, below analysts’ estimates of $7.224 billion.
Shares of defense technology company Palantir Technologies rose 4% in premarket trading after announcing it would switch its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to NASDAQ. Palantir will continue to trade under the same ticker symbol and expects to qualify for listing on the NASDAQ 100.
In commodity markets, oil prices are falling again this Friday and heading towards a weekly loss on concerns about weaker demand in China and expectations of a smaller Fed rate cut. Especially today. Investors learned that China’s refineries processed 4.6% less crude oil in October. a year earlier due to plant closures and lower productivity at small independent refineries.
A barrel of European benchmark Brent crude fell 1.34% to $71.59, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.37% to $67.76. Over the week, Brent has already fallen in price by 3%, and WTI has lost almost 4%.
The dollar, which just hit a one-year high, appears to have taken a bit of a lull today, with the euro rising 0.03% against the US dollar, leaving the exchange rate at $1.0573 each.
In the fixed income sector, bond yields are rising again, capping a week that saw a big rebound, first on the inflation data and then on the aforementioned Powell announcements. The 10-year Treasury yield is 4.43%, down from 4.31% where it ended last week.. The two-year yield rose from 4.25% a week ago to 4.32% today.