Banks pressure the Dow on the eve of a long weekend – Stock Exchange

On the eve of a long weekend, when Wall Street will be closed on Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to return to gains, but the Dow did not catch a breath.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.56% to 3,591.81 points. On January 5th, it touched an all-time high of 36,952.65 points.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 added 0.08% to 4,662.85 points. And in the intraday trading on January 4th, it reached the highest value ever at 4818.62 points.

For its part, the Nasdaq Technology Composite Index rose 0.59% to settle at 14,893.75 points. On November 22, he recalled that he had reached an all-time high of 16,212.23 points.

Banking was among the worst performers in the Dow, with investors disappointed by a nearly 15% drop in JPMorgan Chase earnings in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.

JPMorgan shares closed 6.15 percent lower at $157.89.

Essam City Group Black stone, which also reported its accounts today, was also trading down 1.25% and 2.19 respectively.

Wells Fargo has turned into a bright spot for the bank, rising 3.68% after announcing – also on Friday – better-than-expected results.

Those technologists, who were sanctioned in the past few days, ended up being able to recover in the middle of the session. They still opened lower on Friday, under pressure from a fresh signal in favor of a rate hike soon, but they reversed the trend with some optimism back in the market.

At today’s opening, all US indicators were in the red, still absorbing the words of the second-ranked US Federal Reserve, Lyle Brainard, who confirmed on Thursday that the central bank is ready for this. Raising interest rates as early as March, if action is necessary to combat inflation.

“Lyle Brainard has stated explicitly that the primary priority of the Federal Reserve is to bring down inflation, to values ​​that are accepted as a maximum, a level of 2%. The increase in the cost of living is three times that amount, with no significant indications that it could drop suddenly in The first quarter, leading investors to assume that the mindset of central bank members is now more “tougher,” not least because the new Biden-appointed members, including Brainard, are more closely aligned, Marco Silva, an advisor at ActivTrades, confirmed in his daily analysis. That ‘hawkish’ mentality of those who leave.”

Brainard’s position is in line with what he said Federal Reserve Chairman last Tuesday before the Senate. Jerome Powell, at his reassertion hearing in office, said the Federal Reserve will be able to bring down inflation while the US economy recovers.

The Fed chair said he would not hesitate to act if necessary to contain price pressures. “If we have to raise interest rates more than once, that is what we will do over time,” he stressed.

Today’s data on retail sales didn’t help investor sentiment either. These prices fell 1.9% in December from the previous month after adjusting for seasonal fluctuations. This was the first drop since the summer, in large part due to an increase in cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the country.

In July, which was the last month in which retail sales fell, that decline coincided with an increase in contagion across the delta variant.

The market action ended in a correction to gain, in the case of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, largely due to the pre-holiday consolidation of positions.