Before Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a speech at the annual meeting of global central banks, the main U.S. stock market index fluctuated in a narrow range after the opening bell on Wednesday (24th).Dow JonesAnd the S&P closed up more than 0.1%, ending a three-session losing streak.
On the political and economic front, U.S. President Biden announced new measures for student loan forgiveness. For individuals with an annual income of less than $125,000, or families with an annual income of $250,000, each borrower will be forgiven $10,000 in federal student loans, while $20,000 in student loan debt forgiveness for borrowers who attended college on federal Pell Grants.
The policy could help attract younger and more educated pro-Democratic voters as the midterm elections approach, though it could raise inflationary pressures in the U.S.
Markets await the Federal Reserve’s annual meeting of global central banks in Jackson Hole from the 25th to the 27th, after Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari remarked on Tuesday: ” With high inflation, I’d rather cut it too far until there is clear evidence that high inflation is coming back down.”
However, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, warned on Wednesday that excessive interest rate hikes could exacerbate the inflation problem because raising interest rates cannot solve supply-side problems and may even make It gets worse, businesses can raise prices without losing business, and landlords could pass on rising interest costs to tenants.
The global epidemic of new coronary pneumonia (COVID-19) continues to spread. Before the deadline, data from Johns Hopkins University in the United States pointed out that the number of confirmed cases worldwide has exceeded 598 million, and the number of deaths has exceeded 6.46 million. More than 12.5 billion vaccine doses have been administered in 184 countries worldwide. U.S. first lady Jill Biden has tested “yin to yang” for the new crown virus, and Biden will wear a mask indoors and in contact with others for the next ten days.
The performance of the four major U.S. stock indexes on Wednesday (24th):
Focus stocks
The five kings of technology were mixed. apple (AAPL-US) rose 0.18%; Meta (META-US) rose 1.33%; Alphabet (GOOGL-US) fell 0.15%; Amazon (AMZN-US) rose 0.13%; Microsoft (MSFT-US) fell 0.24%.
Dow JonesMore than half of the constituents gained. Pioneering Heavy Industries (CAT-US) fell 1.55%; IBM (IBM-US) fell 1.12 percent; Dow Chemical (DOW-US) fell 2.48%; Salesforce (CRM-US) rose 2.28 percent; Boeing (BA-US) rose 2.21 percent.
half feeConstituent stocks trade with each other. Micron (MU-US) rose 0.78%; AMD (AMD-US) rose 0.26%; NVIDIA (NVDA-US) rose 0.24%; Applied Materials (AMAT-US) fell 0.19%; Texas Instruments (TXN-US) fell 0.19%; Qualcomm (QCOM-US) rose 0.42%.
Taiwan stock ADRs were generally weak. TSMC ADR (TSM-US) fell 0.55%; ASE ADR (ASX-US) fell 0.84%; UMC ADR (UMC-US) was flat; Chunghwa Telecom ADR (CHT US) fell 0.54%.
Corporate News
apple (AAPL-US) rose 0.18 percent to $167.53 a share. Apple issued an invitation letter for the autumn new product launch conference on Wednesday. The time is set at 10:00 a.m. West Coast time on September 7th (1:00 a.m. Taiwan time on September 8th). In addition to the iPhone 14 series, it may also launch the Apple Watch. series 8 series and many other new products.
American electric car leader Tesla (TSLA-US) rose 0.22 percent to $891.29 a share. Tesla executed a “1-for-3” stock split after the bell on Wednesday and traded at the post-split price at the open on Thursday. This is Tesla’s second stock split in less than two years.
After Biden announces student loan forgiveness, fintech firm SoFi (SOFI-US) rose 4.54 percent to $6.45 a share. Jefferies analyst John Hecht said: “While many details remain to be determined, the average annual income of SoFi members is about $170,000, well above the $125,000 annual income cap set by Biden’s plan, which removes an open question. “
Video conferencing software company Zoom (ZM-US) rose 2.82 percent to $83.61 a share on Wednesday. While Zoom tumbled 16.54% on Tuesday, “tech goddess” Cathie Wood chose to re-enter the market to buy more than 800,000 shares.
American luxury fashion retailer Nordstrom (JWN-US) plunged 19.96 percent to $18.57. Following Macy’s, Nordstrom lowered its forecast for the year, citing a slowdown in business amid falling demand and a backlog of inventory.
Economic data
- The initial monthly rate of U.S. durable goods orders in July was 0.0%, expected to be 0.6%, and the previous value of 2.0%
- The initial monthly rate of core durable goods orders in the United States in July was 0.3%, expected to be 0.2%, and the previous value of 0.3%
- The US July seasonally adjusted existing home sales index reported a monthly rate of 1.0%, expected -4%, and the previous value of -8.9%
- US July seasonally adjusted existing home sales index annual rate of -22.5, expected 21.4%, -19.8%
- US last week (as of 8/19) crude oil inventory changes reported – 3.282 million barrels, expected – 933,000 barrels, the previous value – 7.056 million barrels
Wall Street Analysis
“The market is in a stagnant phase right now, with U.S. stocks hovering near flat in anticipation of Powell’s hawkish talk,” said Brian Price, director of investment management at Commonwealth Financial Network.
Fahad Kamal, chief investment officer at Kleinwort Hambros, said: “Growth is falling sharply everywhere and the signs of weakening economic conditions are clear, but I think Powell will stick to his hawkish tone and he has to take tough action on inflation.”
Lisa Erickson, strategist at Bank of America Wealth Management, said: “In the current situation, there is a risk that the Fed will raise interest rates aggressively next month. Powell may give forward guidance to the market at the central bank’s annual meeting, and the stock market may suffer greater losses.”
The figures are updated before the deadline, please refer to the actual quotation.