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Rally continues despite weak US retail data

Investors reacted positively to earnings from major US banks, shrugging off disappointing sales numbers reported by the US retail sector. Microsoft shares closed at an all-time high.

Date
Author
Tina Haldner
Reading time
5 minutes

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US stock markets continued their rally on Tuesday, posting significant gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 4554.98. The Dow Jones climbed 1.1% to 34’951.93 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8% to 14’353.64. Each of the three indices reached its highest level since April 2022. Among the winners were the major US banks Bank of America (+4.4%) and Morgan Stanley (+6.5%), which convinced investors with their quarterly reports. Goldman Sachs was up 3.1%. The investment bank is due to release its earnings today.

Shares of tech giant Microsoft were also in demand, rising 4% to an all-time high of USD 359.49. The company announced plans to charge businesses in the US for the use of artificial intelligence in some software solutions. Accordingly, access to AI-powered language models is to cost 30 US dollars per user per month - more than double the price Microsoft currently charges for its least expensive software application.

Subdued macro data failed to dampen investor sentiment. US retail sales increased less than expected in June. Sales rose 0.2% from the previous month, the Commerce Department reported in Washington on Tuesday. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.5%. However, shoppers remain optimistic, according to a survey by the University of Michigan. The survey shows that consumer sentiment jumped to a two-year high in July, helped by falling inflation and a robust labour market. In June, wage growth surpassed price growth for the first time in two years.

Asian stock markets show a mixed picture on Wednesday. In Japan, the Nikkei is up more than 1%, while in South Korea the Kospi gains 0.2%. In contrast, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong extends the losses of the last few days and loses more than 1%. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.3%.

Corporate news in focus: ASML, Goldman Sachs, Netflix, Tesla und United Airlines report Q2 figures.

Economic data in focus: Consumer price index UK (8:00 CET) and Eurozone (11:00 CET), data on US construction activity (14:30 CET).

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Editor: Alessandro Fezzi
Source: LGT Bank (Switzerland) Ltd.

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