Positive Wall Street, with futures pointing higher after initial weakness.
At about 4 pm Italian time, the Dow Jones rises by over 120 points (+ 0.38%), to 32,525.34 points; the S&P 500 advanced 0.20% to 3,778.18, and the Nasdaq is practically flat, with a change of + 0.09% at 10,481.62 points.
The US stock market has just returned from last Friday’s buy session but also from a negative week. On Friday the Dow Jones rallied 400 points (+ 1.3%), and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 also rose more than 1%.
At the same time, the S&P 500 index ended its worst week since September, discounting the fear of continued rate hikes by the Fed by Jerome Powell.
In addition to the crucial appointment of the US midterm elections, scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday 8 November, investors are waiting for Thursday 10 November, when in the United States the data on inflation measured by the CPI (price index at consumption).
The trend of the data may provide useful information on the extent of the monetary tightening that the Fed will re-launch in December.
US central bank president Jerome Powell has in fact hinted that US rate hikes could be less aggressive, even though, at the same time, he said the terminal rate could remain higher than expected.
On November 2, the Fed raised rates by 75 basis points, taking them from the range between 3% and 3.25% to the new range between 3.75% and 4%, a record value since 2008.
The fear of higher rates for a longer period of time “higher for longer” has had a major impact, in the last session, on US Treasury yields:
in particular, two-year US government bond yields, which are the most sensitive to the Fed’s monetary policy decisions, jumped to 4.883% last Friday, a new record in 15 years; today they travel around 4.717%, while 10-year rates rise a step from the 4.2% threshold, to 4.197%.
Among the titles in the spotlight is Meta, which scores a 4.5% rise after the rumors, reported by the Wall Street Journal, about an imminent maxi layoff that could be launched starting the day after tomorrow.
The stock of the former Facebook has lost 73% since the beginning of 2022.
Apple also starred, which would have cut the production of its new iPhones by 3 million units. This is what a Bloomberg article reports, adding that the giant would have cited the slowdown in demand as a reason. Apple itself issued a statement, talking about the impact of anti-Covid restrictions launched in China on the production of its iPhones.
“The restrictions (launched as part of the Zero Covid policy that the Beijing government continues to pursue) have had a temporary impact on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 assembly factory located in Zhengzhou, China. The factory is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we prioritize the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain ”, the giant said. “We continue – reads the statement from Apple – to estimate strong demand for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. However, we now expect lower deliveries than we had anticipated for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max; in addition, customers will face longer waiting times to receive their new products ”.
“We are working closely with our supplier – concluded Apple – to return to normal production levels, while ensuring the health and safety of each worker,” concluded Apple. The stock loses about 1.5%.