Wall Street closed steady

US stock exchanges were shut down steadily on Wednesday.

The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed steady at 3909.90 points, the Dow Jones rose 0.2 percent at 31,437.81 points, and the Nasdaq index closed down 0.3 percent at 13,972.53 points.

US stock markets fell a step back on Wednesday, after the S&P 500 reached its eighth record this year on Tuesday.

According to market followers, the stock markets don’t have much to fear at the moment. Investors are betting that US President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package will help boost the economy, while vaccines will help reduce coronavirus deaths. Investor sentiment is also supported by better than expected quarterly results.

“As long as earnings expectations rise, stocks will rise,” said Andrew Slimon, market analyst at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He added, “The volume of business numbers that we have seen so far is very large because we have greatly reduced revenues.”

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Wednesday that the US central bank will continue to support the US economy through low interest rates and massive bond purchases. He also indicated that the labor market is still affected by the Coronavirus epidemic.

Powell reiterated his view that a “patient accommodative monetary policy stance” would be an important factor in returning the economy to a healthy state where workers – especially those with low incomes – can find jobs. This means that the Fed is likely to refrain from raising interest rates or slowing down the pace of bond purchases in the near future.

The Fed Chairman also repeated his call for more financial support for the economy, saying that monetary policy alone will not be enough to return the job market to full strength.

On the macroeconomic front, it was announced on Wednesday that consumer prices in the US also rose in January, after a 0.2 percent increase in December. Prices rose 0.3% month over month last month, while there was a 1.4% increase year over year.

Wholesale inventories in the United States rose 0.3 percent in December compared to the previous month. On an annual basis, however, inventories were down 1.6 percent.

The number of mortgage applications in the US decreased by 4.1 per cent last week. The market index fell 981.1 to 940.4.

March crude oil barrel futures closed 0.6 percent, or $ 0.32, higher on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday, after the latest data from the US Energy Agency (EIA) showed that crude oil inventories were in the US for the week. Ended February 5, it decreased 6.6 million barrels to 469.0 million barrels.

The EUR / USD is trading at 1.2121. At the start of the trading day in New York, the currency pair was still at 1.2130 and near the US stock market close on Tuesday, there was a level of 1.2117 on the boards.

On the macroeconomic level, only weekly requests for aid are on the agenda in the US on Thursday.

Company news

GM saw an increase in its profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020, and is performing better than expected. However, the share decreased by about 3.0%.

The Coca-Cola company saw its results under pressure in 2020, but positive by 2021. The stake lost 0.2 per cent.

Reddit-WallStreetBets investors are targeting the cannabis company Tilray and encouraging each other to make the company the next GameStop. The stock rose 50.0 percent.

Lyft rose more than 4.0%, after the taxi app reported a bigger loss in the fourth quarter late on Tuesday. In the last quarter, the group said it saw app usage again.

Twitter recorded a quarter with more than $ 1 billion in revenue for the second time, but the increase in daily active users lagged slightly behind market expectations. The share rose nearly 13.7 percent.

Mattel posted more revenue and profit in the fourth quarter than expected, but remains “wary” about volatility and other macroeconomic uncertainties due to the coronavirus. The stock lost about 2.8 percent.

Cisco shares fell nearly 2.8 percent after declining quarterly revenues and profits.