The US stock exchanges have gone into the weekend mixed Friday. Investors responded, among other things, to disappointing results from webshop giant Amazon. Wall Street also processed the monthly job report of the American government.
The Dow Jones index in New York closed 0.3 percent higher at 25,063.89 points. The broad S & P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 2706.53 points and technology exchange Nasdaq yielded 0.3 percent at 7263.87 points.
Amazon went down 5.4 percent. The group achieved a 20 percent increase in turnover in the important fourth quarter at 72.4 billion dollars with a record profit of 3 billion dollars. However, the sales forecast for the first quarter was lower than expected and there are concerns among investors about the rising costs.
Jobs report
The US job report is always closely monitored because the figures may affect the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. Employment in the United States rose much more strongly in January than experts had expected. On the other hand, December’s job growth was adjusted considerably downwards.
Another big company that opened the books was Honeywell. The industrial group saw a strong increase in profits and scored a plus of 0.8 percent on the stock market. Pharmaceuticals Merck and health insurer Cigna ended up almost 3 percent higher and a small 3 percent lower. Cyber security company Symantec clearly performed better than expected and won 9 percent.
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil oil and gas company benefited from rising oil prices. The share gained nearly 4 percent of the stock market value. Industry fellow Chevron announced a share buyback program worth 25 billion dollars and was raised by more than 3 percent.
The euro stood at $ 1,1459, against $ 1.1475 at the closing of the European stock markets earlier in the day. A barrel of American oil rose 2.8 percent in price to $ 55.30. Brent was 3.3 percent more expensive at $ 62.81 per barrel.
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