Wall Street shares plunged on Friday (12/4) despite solid bank earnings as oil and gold prices soared amid concerns about the potential for widespread conflict in the Middle East.
After spending the entire session in the red, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 1.2%, or 475 points, at 37,983.24.
“Increasing geopolitical uncertainty heading into the weekend contributed to today’s selloff,” said Briefing.com, as reported AFP.
Market observers cited concerns about an imminent attack on Israel by Iran in retaliation for the attack on Damascus – a possibility also raised by President Joe Biden, who urged Iran against such action.
Oil prices jumped more than 2% at the session’s peak before easing slightly on Friday. Gold also benefits from its status as an investment safe-havenpenetrated the level of US$2,400 per ounce.
Investors’ attention was focused on the start of corporate earnings season on Friday after economic data released earlier this week largely ruled out the possibility that the Federal Reserve (US central bank) will start cutting interest rates in June.
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Equity markets are recalibrating expectations of interest rate cuts as data shows the U.S. economy is in healthy condition, raising expectations that companies will report strong earnings.
At the beginning of this year, the market had predicted six interest rate cuts by the Fed in 2024, but now they expect only two interest rate cuts.
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup all reported better-than-expected earnings results for the first quarter. However, shares of JPMorgan Chase, which has risen rapidly this year, slumped 6.5%, while the other two banks fell lower.
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Dimming hopes of a U.S. interest rate cut continued to support the dollar, which jumped to a 34-year high above 153 yen. (AFP/M-3)
Here are the important figures for Friday at 20.30 GMT (Saturday morning WIB):
New York – Dow: Go down 1.2% at 37,983.24 (close)
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New York – S&P 500: Go down 1.5% at 5,123.41 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: Go down 1.6% at 16,175.09 (close)
London – FTSE 100: Naik 0.9% at 7,995.58 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: Go down 0.2% at 8,010.32 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: Go down 0.1% at 17,930.32 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: Go down 0.2% at 4,955.01 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Naik 0.2% at 39,523.55 (closing)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Go down 2.2% at 16,721.69 (closing)
Shanghai – Composite: Go down 0.5% at 3,019.47 (close)
Dollar/yen: Go down at 153.24 yen from 153.27 yen on Thursday
Euro/dollar: Go down at US$1.0645 from US$1.0726
Pounds/dollars: Go down at US$1.2449 from US$1.2553
Euro/pound: Naik to 85.48 pence from 85.44 pence
Brent North Sea Crude Oil: Naik 0.8% to US$90.45 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: Naik 0.8% to US$85.66 per barrel
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