Negative turn on Wall Street with ‘weight’ technology

LAST UPDATE 18:30

Despite the positive opening of the American market, the sellers quickly took the reins and with liquidations mainly in the technology sector led all three indices to negative ground,

In particular, after jumping 600 points yesterday and a positive start today, the Dow Jones industrial average is now down 0.3% or 100 points, moving to 33,788 points, the enlarged S&P 500 is down 0.5% and stands at 4,365 points. while the technologically weighted Nasdaq trades at 13,612 units with significant losses of 1%.

In a week of high volatility with strong losses at the beginning, the US market reacted strongly yesterday, but seems to be short-lived as the Russian attack on Ukraine continues unabated.

Central Banker Jerome Powell was instrumental in yesterday’s reaction, reiterating the Fed’s intention to tighten its monetary policy, raising interest rates in March to curb galloping crowds.

However, data released shortly after the start of the session, which showed that the activity of the services sector in the US fell to a low of the year, brought back the concerns in the ranks of investors.

In particular, the ISM non-manufacturing index fell to 56.5 points, the lowest level since February 2021, from 59.9 points in January and against estimates for 61 points.

On the board, the tech giants are under pressure for another session, with Amazon losing 1.4%, Facebook parent Meta losing 1% as well as Microsoft, while Dow Jones’s biggest “weight” is its title. Boeing with losses of 3.5%.

At the same time, however, the fact that energy prices and US government yields are showing a positive effect is showing a stabilizing trend.

In particular, the crude after the jump that brought it yesterday above 110 dollars today is moving slightly down to 108 dollars for WTI and 111 for Brent, while the ten-year US after its biggest daily jump since 2020 recorded yesterday exceeding 2%, today it sees its yield move to 1.87% with small fluctuations.

Some analysts estimate that Wall Street has already reached the lows of this year and that from now on the road will be up. Characteristically, the Citi team has upgraded its stock rating in the US, as well as the technology industry worldwide.

“Despite the bad events in Ukraine, shares around the world remain strong enough. Losses are concentrated in securities of companies with direct exposure to Russia and the financial sector. “20% after previous geopolitical crises,” said Citi strategic analyst Robert Buckland in a note to clients.

On the other hand, the news from the labor market was positive, as the new applications for unemployment benefits granted by the American states fell more than expected last week, slipping to the lowest level since the beginning of the year.

In particular, the initial applications for unemployment benefits fell by 18,000 to 215,000, compared to estimates for 225,000.

At the same time, labor costs in the US increased by 0.9% in the last quarter of 2021 and overall by 3.5% in the last four quarters, however at the same time productivity increased in the fourth quarter by 6.6% and the annual average productivity increased by 1.9% in 2021.