London, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 -
US Markets summary
Following the announcement of the inflation statistics, US stocks rose on Wednesday, but trading gains were curtailed in the afternoon. The Dow Jones rose 40 points after rising over 200 points earlier, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2 percent.
The US inflation data were in line with expectations, calming concerns that the Fed may need to tighten more quickly than previously anticipated. In addition, Treasury yields fell somewhat, providing some comfort to the tech sector.
On the corporate front, equities tied to economic growth outperformed, with Mosaic climbing more than 3% and software behemoths Microsoft and Alphabet gaining more than 1%. Meanwhile, Biogen's stock dropped nearly 7% after Medicare said that it would only cover the Alzheimer's medicine Aduhelm in part. Traders are now focusing on earnings season, with Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and JPMorgan all reporting on Friday.
European Markets summary
Investors hailed positive earnings and less hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as European markets extended gains for a second session on Wednesday, with Frankfurt's DAX 30 surging back above the 16,000 mark. Due to robust corporate trading and continued billings growth in the SMB market, TeamViewer's stock soared more than 15% after announcing a substantial increase in fourth-quarter total billings.
Sainsbury's and JD Sports both boosted their full-year earnings expectations, while Just Eat Takeaway's financial projections for 2022 remained unchanged. OVHcloud, a French cloud computing provider, reported an increase in first-quarter sales, while Philips, a Dutch company, forecasted a 40% decline in fourth-quarter core profit.
In other news, the US Federal Reserve's chairman said the central bank was on track to start raising interest rates and shrinking its enormous balance sheet to combat inflation, but reassured legislators that the steps would not harm the US economy.
U.S. Stock Market Indexes
S&P 500: +13.28 (0.28%) at 4,726.35 as at 12 Jan, 16:20 GMT-5
Nasdaq: +34.94 (0.23%) at 15,188.39 as at 12 Jan, 17:05 GMT-5
Dow Jones: +38.30 (0.11%) at 36,290.32 as at 12 Jan, 16:20 GMT-5
European Stock Market Indexes
STOXX Europe 600: +3.10 (0.64%) at 486.18 as at 12 Jan, 17:30 CET
FTSE 100 in London: +60.35 (0.81%) at 7,551.72 as at 12 Jan, 16:35 GMT
DAX 30 in Germany: +68.51 (0.43%) at 16,010.32 as at 12 Jan, 17:55 CET
CAC 40 in France: +53.81 (0.75%) at 7,237.19 as at 12 Jan, 18:05 CET
FTSE MIB 30 in Italy: +178.78 (0.65%) at 27,714.26 as at 12 Jan, 17:35 CET
IBEX 35 in Spain: +14.40 (0.16%) at 8,770.30 as at 12 Jan, 17:38 CET
Other markets
Ten-year U.S. Treasury note: −0.21 (1.20%) at 17.25 as at 12 Jan, 13:59 GMT-6
Dollar index: -0.63 or -0.66% at 94.99 as at Jan 12, 2022 at 5:06 p.m. EST
VIX volatility index: −0.79 (4.29%) at 17.62 as at 12 Jan, 15:15 GMT-6
Oil prices
Brent crude: +0.06 or 0.07% at $84.73 per barrel Jan 12, 2022 10:04 p.m. GMT
West Texas Intermediate: +1.54 or 1.90% at $82.76 per barrel as at Jan 12, 2022 5:00 p.m. EST
Precious metals
Gold: +5.46 or +0.30% at $1,826.31 an ounce
Silver: +0.39 or +1.70% at $ 23.15 an ounce
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin: +1,135.10 (2.66%) at $43,887.80 as at 12 Jan, 22:20 UTC
Ethereum: +123.57 (3.80%) at $ 3,376.53 as at 12 Jan, 22:20 UTC
(Written and edited by: The Decision Maker)
