Upward reaction on Wall Street against the backdrop of falling oil

All three US market indicators are moving in a positive direction, as the new fall in oil prices and the slightly better-than-expected measure of producer prices, alleviate to some extent inflation concerns.

In particular, the Dow Jones industrial average strengthened by 0.64% or 264 points and moved to 33,156 points, the enlarged S&P 500 rose 0.57% to 4,196 points, as well as the technologically weighted Nasdaq, which yesterday received significant pressure but today it strengthens by 0.55% to 12,724 points.

The focus of the markets continues to be on Ukraine, where Kyiv and Moscow continue their talks to find a political solution, while the uncertainties of the current period have been compounded by the imposition of new lockdowns in China due to the outbreak of coronavirus cases, raising significant new concerns. in the global supply chain, especially in the technology sector.

At the same time, however, oil prices, which last Monday had jumped to the brink of $ 140, are now falling below $ 100 for the first time since March 1, recording new strong losses of more than 7%.

Combined with the data on wholesale prices, which fluctuated even marginally below market estimates in February, concerns about the course of extremely high inflation seem to be limited to a degree.

Specifically, the producer price index rose 0.8% after rising 1.2% in January, while analysts expected it to move at a rate of 0.9%, although on an annual basis it remained at 10% as expected.

More important, however, is the course of the so-called structural index of the measurement, which excludes the highly volatile energy and food prices, and which moved significantly lower than the estimates at 0.2% against a forecast of 0.6%.

At the same time, the two-day meeting of the federal bank begins today, during which it is expected to increase its interest rates for the first time after 2018, with geopolitical developments having, however, virtually eliminated the possibility of a more aggressive move from the 25 basis points.

For the rest of the day, macroeconomic news was negative from the Empire State of New York Index, which fell 14.9 points to -11.8 points, while economists expected the index to be formed in 5.5 units.

Among other things, both orders and shipments fell in March, while there were continued substantial increases in import prices and sales prices.