On Wednesday, United Airlines was among the risers on the New York stock exchanges. The American airline posted significantly more profit last quarter thanks to the strong recovery in demand for tickets after the corona pandemic.
The company is also optimistic about the course of business in the current quarter. The share was rewarded with a price gain of more than 1 percent.
Investors also digested a flood of macroeconomic data. For example, US retail sales fell in December. In addition, producer prices in the US were lower last month than a month earlier. It was also announced that industrial production fell in the last month of 2022.
Later in the day, the US central bank will publish its report on the state of the economy, the so-called Beige Book. Investors hope to find more clues that can give an idea of the interest rate decision that the Federal Reserve will take at the end of January.
Shortly after the start of trading, the Dow Jones index was up 0.3 percent at 34,015 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 4,007 points, and the tech gauge Nasdaq rose 0.6 percent to 11,156 points.
Moderna rose more than 6 percent. The pharmaceutical company, known for its corona vaccine, stated that the vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus could prevent the disease in adults. The RS virus is one of the main causative agents of the common cold.
Goldman Sachs gained nearly 1 percent. After disappointing results, the large American investment bank lost more than 6 percent in value on Tuesday. Tech group IBM also struggled with a recommendation cut by Morgan Stanley and lost 1 percent. Jeans brand Levi Strauss fell almost 2 percent after a recommendation cut by Bank of America.
Microsoft noted more or less flat. The tech group is cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide because consumers are more tight-lipped now that the economy is worsening. That amounts to about 5 percent of the entire workforce. Investors, however, were not shocked by the announcement. A day earlier, there were already media reports that a large round of layoffs was coming.
Morgan Stanley also remained flat. Citi analysts downgraded the investment bank. Morgan Stanley gained almost 6 percent on Tuesday after better-than-expected quarterly results. However, experts at Citi think that the share will not rise much further shortly.