Wall Street rose after a weak start to the day, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 ending the day in red, but the Dow Jones rose 0.22 percent to 34,519.58 points.
The Nasdaq index fell 0.89 percent to 13,748.83 points, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down 0.27 percent to 4,453.20 points.
The yield on ten-year US government bonds fell 0.7 percent to 4.26 percent, while the “fear index” VIX rose 0.3 percent to 14.56.
Apple peel
Among individual stocks, the big story of the day was Apple stock falling nearly 3% to $177.56 per share after a Bloomberg report that China is considering extending the iPhone ban, which currently applies to employees in the public sector and state-funded companies.
Thus, the technology war between the world’s two largest economies continues, and many other stocks in the sector ended the day in the red. For example, NVIDIA stock fell 1.74 percent, while Advanced Micro Devices stock fell 2.46 percent.
On the positive side among the components of the Dow Index, we find Intel, which closed at an increase of 3.24 percent.
Fear of interest rates
Concerns about interest rates have once again erupted among US investors. Numbers released Thursday showed that the number of first-time unemployment claims fell for the fourth straight week last week, to its lowest level since February. This suggests that the labor market remains strong, and contributes to the fear that the Fed will begin to believe that raising interest rates again may not be enough.
– Investors were hoping the Fed would take a break for the rest of the year, but there could be one or two interest rate hikes. All things being equal, it’s a bit negative for the stock market, Investment Director Chris Zaccarelli at the Alliance of Independent Advisors tells CNBC.
Director Jan-Peter Sisner also recommends caution in the future.
– Remember that there is a reason why many are negative when it comes to the big picture. At the same time, many are overly optimistic about the date of the first interest rate cut, he tells Finansavisen.
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