Major US banks such as Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley started the trading day mixed on Thursday after the books opened. The most important indicators on Wall Street were sometimes positive.
Investors brushed aside their concerns about inflation and its possible impact on the economic recovery.
Morgan Stanley and Bank of America gained more than 2 percent in early trading. As with JPMorgan Chase, which already released figures on Wednesday, more money was made by advising on companies’ mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs. Investors were slightly less satisfied with Citigroup and Wells Fargo, even though their results also exceeded analysts’ forecasts. As a result, their shares actually fell to almost 2 percent.
The overall sentiment on the stock markets is also influenced by the arrival of new data on US producer prices, which rose slightly less strongly than widely anticipated. Also, slightly fewer unemployment benefits were filed last week than economists had generally expected. As a result, the Dow Jones index rose 0.9 percent after a few trading minutes at 34,705 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 1 percent to 4409 points, and technology exchange Nasdaq rose 1.2 percent to 14,739 points.
Besides the banks, more companies have come up with results. Pizza chain Domino’s Pizza, which reported in its figures that it would continue to open more and more branches, was put 3 percent lower on the stock market. Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance did good business with, among other things, the sale of corona tests for home use. The stock gained 0.4 percent. Health insurer UnitedHealth gained almost 7 percent after a well-received quarterly report.
The technology sector also drew attention after the figures of the Taiwanese chip group Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Apple’s major supplier boosted its quarterly profit thanks to strong global demand for chips and shortages in semiconductors. As a result, TSMC, which also has an American listing, gained more than 3 percent. Likewise, American chipmakers such as AMD, Broadcom, Intel and Nvidia rose to more than 1 percent.