Despite hundreds of thousands of new jobs, unemployment is increasing in the USA. The gas crisis is also depressing the mood. The fear of a recession is spreading. Accordingly, the US indices are in the red. Chevron, on the other hand, is happy about rising oil prices.
The mood on Wall Street remains shaky given the gas crisis, inflationary shock and recession worries. After initial price gains as a result of robust US labor market data, the indices turned negative. Dow Jones and S
In August, slightly more new jobs were created than expected, at 315,000. However, growth weakened noticeably compared to the previous month. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent previously, while wages did not increase as much as expected. That's the ideal scenario for investors who now know that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to hike rates aggressively in the longer term, said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at brokerage firm AvaTrade.
Traders saw a 58 percent chance of a third straight rate hike of 75 basis points in September, up from 70 percent prior to the report. "Nevertheless, we are in a long-term downward trend on the stock exchanges and are not over the mountain yet," warned analyst Fawad Razaqzada from the trading house StoneX. "The Fed will aggressively tighten monetary policy in the coming months, which should cap prices, particularly in US tech." Therefore, a sale before the long weekend is not surprising. US markets will remain closed on Monday for a holiday.
Prices fell noticeably on the energy market. The European natural gas future lost around eleven percent to 209 euros per megawatt hour. A week ago it had risen to a record value of 343 euros. The electricity price fell by almost eight percent to 500 euros per megawatt hour. However, the situation could soon deteriorate again because, according to the Gazprom group, Russian gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline will not be resumed for the time being. The reason is that an oil leak was discovered during maintenance work, the company said.
Speculations on a decision by the Opec countries and their allies (Opec ) to further cut production in the coming week drove up oil prices. North Sea Brent crude rose 1.1 percent to $92.98 a barrel after slipping more than 3 percent the day before. Another important factor is the Iran-US nuclear talks, which appear to have stalled, Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said. "A deal has been a major downside risk for oil prices lately; something Saudi Arabia has been trying to counter with warnings of alliance production cuts."
With a tailwind from rising oil prices, shares in the oil company Chevron rose by almost 1.3 percent. Financials were also higher, with Bank of America up 0.4 percent. Lululemon Athletica shares jumped a good 1.5 percent. The yoga apparel maker raised its full-year guidance. The prospect of a legal dispute with US veterans pushed the shares of the conglomerate 3M by almost 3.8 percent to a two-year low. Two former military personnel want to sue the company for allegedly defective earplugs for protection in combat and prevent the planned spin-off of the health division.
