The major US indices are trading in positive territory, following yesterday’s modest gains that broke a three-session negative streak. Within minutes of the start of trading, the S&P 500 is trading up 0.2% and the Nasdaq gains 0.4%; on the other hand, the Dow Jones (-0.2%) and the Russell 2000 (-0.1%) were negative.
The focus of investors is all on the annual Jackson Hole symposium, which begins today and ends Saturday, August 27. The hearing of the Fed president, Jerome Powell, is expected tomorrow at 16:00 Italian time. In addition to the impacts on the Eurozone economy caused by the energy crisis, operators are concerned about fears about likely more aggressive squeeze by central banks on the subject of interest rates, despite the risks of recession are increasing. Powell recently said that the Fed is trying to cause a recession by raising the cost of money and that it does not think it should, even as it is struggling to calm the rise in inflation to its 40-year high.
This, despite the signs of an economic slowdown and the growing risks of recession. In this regard, in the second reading, the GDP of the USA in the second quarter of 2022 marks a decline of 0.6% from -0.8% expected by the consensus and from -0.9% previously (-1.6% in the first quarter ). Applications for unemployment benefits in the US are decreasing and in the week to August 20, 2022 mark 243 thousand units from the previous 245 thousand. The figure is below expectations which had estimated an increase of up to 253 thousand units.
Tesla stock (-1%) in the spotlight today, the largest car manufacturer in terms of capitalization in the world today will carry out the “stock split” (3-1 stocks) for the second time in the history of the company to approach retail investors .
The Peloton stock collapsed 17.8% today after reporting a higher-than-expected loss in revenue, thus well below the forecasts of Wall Street analysts. The company also said that the connected fitness business will go through a challenging period in 2023.
Nvidia (-0.2%), the largest American semiconductor company by capitalization, closed the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 (ended July 31, 2022) with revenues of $ 6.70 billion, up 3 % compared to a year ago and down 19% compared to the previous quarter. The figure is clearly below expectations and the guidance of 8.1 billion.