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Wall lost its upward momentum – Nasdaq closed with losses

Wall Street’s main stock indexes closed mixed on Thursday, despite the initial euphoria that created yet another positive sign from the area of ​​inflationary pressures – namely the de-escalation of wholesale prices in the US in July, resulting in the two main indices to move with marginal changes, and the technological one to record losses of more than half a percentage point.

On the board, the industrialist Dow Jones closed with gains of 27.16 points or 0.08%, at 33,336.67 points, with the broadest S&P 500 to “lose” 2.54 points or 0.06%, at 4,207.70, while the technological Nasdaq lost 74.89 points, or 0.58%, to 12,779.91.

Producer price data followed Wednesday’s also good news, with consumer prices rising 8.5% year-on-year in the US in July, versus a forecast of 8.7%.

“Investors, while relieved that inflation has fallen, know that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates. In such a context, people find it difficult to get into an ‘all is well’ mentality, without that meaning that investment sentiment it’s not clearly better than, say, two months ago,” said Wayne Wicker, chief investment officer at MissionSquare.

A positive factor for the day was the performance of Disney shares, with its stock recording gains of 4.75% after the media giant reported stronger-than-expected results.

US wholesale prices showed their first decline in more than two years, confirming trends in the easing of inflationary pressures.

THE producer price index fell 0.5% in relation to June, presenting its first monthly drop since April 2020 of the pandemic, even when the estimate predicted an increase of the order of 0.2%.

On a year-on-year basis, producer prices increased in July by 9.8% from a year ago, which is their slowest pace since October 2021.

Characteristic of the slowdown presented by the index is that in June it ran at 11.2%, while in May it recorded a record rate of 11.6%.

“The trend is our friend at this stage,” said Mona Mahajan of Edward Jones, adding that “markets will appreciate as a step in the right direction on inflation, the data yesterday and today.”

Fed officials continue to say the US central bank will continue to raise interest rates, but they are now signaling – as the market expects – a more dovish approach going forward.

It’s worth noting that bets on the Fed’s next September rate hike completely reversed yesterday after measuring inflation, with the 50 basis point one taking the lead at 62% from 38% previously.

Today, in fact, that possibility has strengthened further, with the market now pricing in 68% that the Fed will add another 0.5% to its interest rates, and just 32% the “favorite” as the former for a third consecutive giant increase of 0, 75%.

Among the 30 Dow stocks, 15 moved in a positive direction and 15 in a negative direction. The gains were led by those of Walt Disney, Chevron and Travelers Cos.while the losses of Johnson&Johnson, Amgen and Saleforce.

Small increase in unemployment benefits

In the rest of the macroeconomic news of the day, there was a slight increase in new applications for receiving unemployment benefits in the US, which were maintained at satisfactory levels for the pace of the economy.

Particularly, applications increased by 14,000 in the week ending Aug. 6 and totaled 262,000.

It is noted that the reading remains below the range of 270,000 to 300,000, which constitutes a level that economists consider to signal a significant slowdown in the labor market.

Source: Capital

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