Wall Street was recently dragged down by high inflation, an impending recession and rising interest rates.
The New York stock exchanges closed little changed on Friday after a very volatile session, slowing down the recent downward thrust. Of the Dow Jones increased by a very moderate 0.03 percent to 31,261.9 points after clear historical losses.
With a weekly minus of 2.9 percent, what is probably the world’s best-known stock market index has already recorded its impressive 8th week of losses in a row. According to the US Information Service CNBC this is the first eight-week minus series since 1923, i.e. almost 100 years. Wall Street was recently dragged down by high inflation, an impending recession and rising interest rates.
The S&P 500 Index, which includes 500 selected US companies, also showed little change at the end of the week with a plus of 0.01 percent to 3,901.36 points. The Nasdaq Composite technology index fell 0.30 percent to 11,354.62 points.
In the Dow Jones, the Boeing papers fell by 5.1 percent at the end of the week with economic concerns. The shares of the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar fell by 4.3 percent.
Foot Locker and Deere & Co. attracted investor interest with business figures. After a solid first quarter, Andrew Page, chief financial officer of sporting goods retailer Foot Locker, now expects full-year sales and adjusted earnings per share to come in at the high end of guidance. The shares gained 4.1 percent.
The results and statements of the agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere, on the other hand, caused a bad mood among investors. The shares lost more than 14 percent, the biggest daily loss since March 2020. The raised profit forecast for the full year was overshadowed by the below-expected sales development in the second quarter, according to the market.
Ross Stores shares are down a good 22 percent. The clothing discounter shocked investors with weak first-quarter results and the reduction of its full-year targets. The first analysts reacted promptly and cut their price targets, such as those of Deutsche Bank, Jefferies and Wells Fargo. Also caught up in the bad news from Ross Stores were other industry stocks such as Burlington Stores and TJX, which fell 15 and 5.7 percent, respectively. However, TJX had risen on the two previous days in contrast to the very weak overall market.
The retail industry was under a lot of pressure this week. Walmart, Target and Kohl’s spread pessimism, sending prices plummeting. High inflation and rising transportation and labor costs are putting pressure on profit margins in the industry.
(APA)