Wall Street reopens after closing yesterday due to the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday. Today, Black Friday, the festive shopping season officially begins.
Wall Street will close early today at 1pm New York time.
At around 3.50 pm Italian time, the main stock indexes on Wall Street were mixed: the Dow Jones rose by 0.26%, the S&P 500 lost 0.05% and the Nasdaq underperformed with a drop of 0.52%. In particular, the Nasdaq prices the news that the US federal authority FTC could block the acquisition of the gaming group Activision Blizzard by the giant Microsoft. Activision Blizzard shares drop more than 4%.
Among the protagonists of today’s session, Tesla and Manchester United stand out.
Tesla rose in the pre-market, only to turn around at the start of the session, despite the tweet from the founder and CEO Elon Musk, who also became number one and owner of the social media Twitter at the end of October.
In a tweet, Musk announced that the Tesla Full Self Driving Beta autonomous driving software is now available across the United States. The electric car giant is still awaiting the green light for the software from the US authorities.
Shares of football club Manchester United reported major double-digit rallies again today, after the publication of some rumors that the company is considering some strategic options, which also include its sale.
The rumors became official news last November 23, when it was the Glazer family themselves, who have been at the helm of the English club for 17 years, to formally announce their intention to “explore strategic alternatives for the club”, including a new investment or potential sale.
The Glazer family are working with financial advisers on the process, which could lead to a partial sale of the club or investments including redevelopment of the stadium and infrastructure.
Manchester United shares are up more than 11% on the New York Stock Exchange today.
In general, on Wall Street, attention remains on the Fed’s next moves, with the FOMC monetary policy arm set to meet on December 13-14.
The Fed’s minutes relating to the last FOMC meeting on 2 November were released the day before yesterday, when rates on US fed funds were raised by 75 basis points for the fourth consecutive time, to the new range between 3.75 % and 4%, a record value since 2008.
“A substantial majority of participants believed that a slowdown in the pace of (rate) hikes would soon be appropriate – read the Fed minutes – the uncertainty about the time required for the effects of monetary policy to manifest themselves on economic activity and inflation and their intensity are among the reasons cited” . In the minutes we read that, according to some exponents of the FOMC, “reducing the pace of hikes (in rates) could lower the risk of instability in the financial system”. The minutes therefore seem to have confirmed the view of some strategists, who are aiming for an upcoming rate hike by the Fed of 50 basis points, in the upcoming meeting in December.