The Nasdaq fell more than 3% on massive technology sales and inflationary risks

Financial Gazette – Santiago

The latest wave of stock buying has been dampened by fresh signs of inflationary pressure in the US, which, combined with the pessimistic outlook of a major chipmaker, directly threatens Wall’s long-awaited Christmas rally. street Its a bad year for stocks.

On the New York Stock Exchange, Tech Nasdaq The Composite Index fell 3.33%, the S&P 500 lost 1.81%, and the Dow Jones fell 1.56%. In Santiago, the S&P IPSA index fell 0.80% to 5,228 points.

Wall Street advanced on Wednesday, supported by better corporate results from Nike and FedEx, along with strong indicators of consumer confidence published by the American Conference Board.

But the optimism evaporated in the current session, as new signs of economic strength in the United States added pressure on the Federal Reserve to further tighten financial conditions.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, third-quarter GDP was revised by three-tenths to 3.2% q-o-q in its third and final reading, while core personal consumption rose by one-tenth to 4.4%.

“It’s interesting to see how markets move with a third GDP release,” the economist told Bloomberg. “We’ve already had this data twice and it was a pretty big revision. Markets are now expecting soft inflation and we don’t.” . From Citigroup, Veronica Clark.

For its part, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims amounted to 216,000 in the week ending December 17.

The number surprised for the second time in a row, and the four-week average was the lowest in a month, adding to tensions due to the tightening of the labor market and its repercussions in a possible “second round” of inflation.

Micron was already clouding the mood yesterday after the markets closed. The largest manufacturer of memory chips in the United States announced that it will cut 10% of its workforce and indicated that it estimated losses at 62 cents per share in its upcoming quarterly results, compared to a loss of 29 cents, the surveys showed.

The biggest test for markets before the end of 2022 comes tomorrow, Friday, when the November reading of personal consumption indicators, which the Federal Reserve watches closely, and Wall Street accumulates an annual decline of nearly 20%, is published.

Europe and Asia
About to close, European stock markets were in the red. The regional Stoxx 600 index lost 0.99%, the FTSE 100 index in London fell 0.42%, the CAC 40 index in Paris fell 1.04%, the DAX index in Frankfurt fell 1.34%, and the IBEX 35 index fell 0.48%.

It was announced earlier that the third quarter GDP of the UK was revised downward by three-tenths to 1.9% YoY. This includes the Private Consumption Index which contracted 1.1% year-on-year after a downward revision by six-tenths, dampening expectations of inflationary pressures in the British Isles.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.46%, snapping a five-day losing streak, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.71%, and the CSI 300 in China rose 0.14%.

There were mixed signals on the Asian day. Anonymous sources told Bloomberg that China plans to ease quarantine requirements for inbound travelers in January, but that comes as the current Covid-19 outbreak rages on, testing the authorities’ resolve to bid farewell to the no-virus policy.

Meanwhile, three high-level public entities — the State Council of China, the People’s Bank of China, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission — have acknowledged receipt of the guidelines that emerged from last week’s Central Economic Work Conference, and committed themselves to implementation. Economic stimulus measures and support for the real estate sector.