News from the Financial Associated Press on December 29 (Editor Zhao Hao)On Wednesday (December 28), the three major U.S. stock indexes closed down collectively, and all fell by more than 1%.
As of the close, the Dow Jones Index fell 1.10% to 32,875.71 points; the S&P 500 Index fell 1.20% to 3,783.22 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.35% to 10,213.29 points.
With just two trading days left in the year, U.S. stocks are headed for their worst year since 2008. Since the beginning of the year, the Nasdaq has fallen 34.72%, which is the worst performance among the three major indexes. The Dow Jones Index and the S&P 500 Index have also fallen by 9.53% and 20.62% respectively.
Louis Navellier, founder and chief investment officer of investment firm Navellier & Associates, said the “Santa market” got off to a disappointing start amid low volume.
Navellier added that traders appear to be exhausted, and they are no longer looking for a technical upside, just hoping for no further losses next year. But unfortunately, “most of the negative factors this year, the new crown virus, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the energy shortage and the hawkish Federal Reserve, are waiting for us next year.”
Data released before the market showed that the US November existing home contract sales index fell 4% more than expected. Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco, commented that this is a sign that the economy is slowing. The family retreated.”
Hot Stock Performance
All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 closed lower on Wednesday. Among them, the energy sector fell 2.22% and performed the worst. The information technology/technology, real estate, telecommunications, raw materials, industry, and consumer goods sectors fell by as much as 1.64%, and the financial sector fell by more than 0.4%.
Most of the large technology stocks closed down. (Arranged by market value) Apple fell 3.07%, and its market value barely guarded the $2 trillion mark; Microsoft fell 1.03%, Google fell 1.67%, and Amazon fell 1.47%. Tesla rose 3.31%, ending a 7-day losing streak.
Chinese concept stocks fell as a whole, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 3.78%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks collectively closed down, TAL fell 14.85%, Tencent Music fell 6.14%, New Oriental fell 5.68%, JD.com fell 4.51%, Pinduoduo fell 4.44%, Baidu fell 4.19%, Xiaopeng Motors fell 4.18%, Alibaba It fell 2.96%, Weilai fell 2.58%, and Ideal Auto fell 0.59%.
company news
【ExxonMobil sues EU to block new windfall tax on oil companies】
Exxon is suing the EU to force it to drop a new windfall tax on oil companies. The company said the EU exceeded its statutory mandate to impose a windfall profit tax. The lawsuit is the EU energy industry’s most significant response to the windfall tax so far. Energy companies have been targeted by Western governments as energy prices skyrocket due to the Russo-Ukraine war. The energy industry’s response has hurt prospects for an EU plan to raise 25 billion euros in taxes to bring down people’s energy bills.
[Southwest Airlines has been questioned about the large-scale cancellation of flights]
In the past few days, the rare winter storm has seriously affected the air traffic in the United States. So far, tens of thousands of flights have been canceled, most of which are operated by Southwest Airlines. According to the data of the US flight tracking website, as of the morning of December 28 local time, 2,507 Southwest Airlines flights have been canceled. A total of nearly 5000 sorties. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on the 28th that the large-scale flight cancellations of Southwest Airlines were no longer caused by the weather, but a “systematic failure” within Southwest Airlines. The U.S. Department of Transportation is launching an investigation into Southwest Airlines’ mass cancellations.
[Pfizer submits marketing application for pentavalent meningococcal vaccine to FDA]
Pfizer submits a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MenABCWY, a pentavalent meningococcal vaccine candidate, for the prevention of meningococcal disease caused by the most common serogroup in people ages 10 to 25 sick. The FDA is expected to make a decision in October 2023. Pfizer said its pentavalent meningococcal vaccine MenABCWY met the same criteria as its own group B meningococcal vaccine Trumenba and GlaxoSmithKline’s meningococcal vaccine Menveo in a Phase 3 trial in healthy people aged 10-25. primary and secondary objectives. Pfizer said on Wednesday that the vaccine, if approved, would help simplify the meningococcal vaccination schedule and provide the broadest coverage of meningococcal serogroups.
[Amazon plans to launch a standalone sports app]
Amazon has discussed developing a standalone sports-watching app, according to people familiar with the matter. Andy Jassy, the company’s chief executive, is ramping up his streaming efforts. While one of the people familiar with the matter said the company has not yet decided whether to proceed with the plan, discussions suggest that Amazon may be considering new ways to generate revenue from the multibillion-dollar deal it signed with live sports. So far, most of these sports events have been included in the standard Prime membership subscription service.
[Microsoft Office Mobile “Transfer File” function will be disabled]
The mobile terminal of Microsoft Office Mobile shows that the “transfer file” function will be disabled. After December 31st, the “Transfer Files” feature will no longer be available. Microsoft recommends using OneDrive to transfer and access files. Previously, the “transfer file” function of the Office Mobile mobile terminal supported a maximum of 30MB.
【Winter storm hits the largest U.S. natural gas producer, output fell by 30%】
Some wells in the Appalachian Basin of EQT Corp., the largest natural gas producer in the United States, were shut down in recent days due to severe cold weather, and production fell by about 30%. The company’s production was down by 1 billion to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day during the winter storm, but the production issues are expected to be resolved in the “coming days,” Chief Executive Rice said. Rice believes that a decline in U.S. natural gas production is “normal” under the circumstances. At the same time, he called on the United States to build more natural gas pipelines to increase the supply of heating and power generation fuel (in extreme weather environments).