Energy stocks give US stock exchanges a boost

Price gains in energy stocks gave the US stock exchanges a friendly start to the week. The Dow Jones gained 0.8 percent to 34,869.63 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.1 percent to 15,105.58 points and the broad S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 4,468.73 points. Oil stocks in particular were in demand: the US government had given oil stocks from its reserves to eight companies, including Chevron and ExxonMobil. However, concerns about the further economic development of the USA prevented larger profits. In particular, the upcoming inflation data caused headaches for investors. They hope that this will provide information on the further monetary policy course of the US Federal Reserve. In addition, there are plans by the administration of US President Joe Biden to increase corporate taxes and a $ 3.5 trillion aid package from the Democrats. "At the current valuation, the stock market buffer is not big enough to cushion headwinds from multiple directions, such as possible tax hikes, lower corporate profits and the upcoming tightening of monetary policy," said Richard Saperstein, chief investor at Treasury Partners. The analysts of the US investment bank Goldman Sachs believe that a rise in corporate taxes to 25 percent and higher taxation of foreign income could curb the profits of the 500 most important companies by five percent in the coming year. In addition, there is the corona pandemic, which has not yet been overcome. Market participants expect the stock market to face a major correction by the end of the year, after having made strong price gains in recent months. Virgin Galactic's shares were down 3.6 percent. The space company has postponed its next space flight due to a possible defect. The titles of the accommodation broker Airbnb fell 2.9 percent - after a sell recommendation by Goldman Sachs. For the individual shares, the focus was on the papers of the biotech company Regenxbio. The company has partnered with the pharmaceutical company AbbVie to develop a drug for the chronic eye disease AMD. The Regenxbio papers shot up by up to 31 percent. On the other hand, the papers of the corona vaccine developers Pfizer and Moderna went downhill after scientists did not consider booster vaccinations necessary: ​​There are currently no signs that boosters should be recommended for the general population, according to a study in which, among other things the chief scientist of the World Health Organization, Soumya Swaminathan was involved. The papers yielded up to 6.6 percent. In Frankfurt, the Dax was 0.6 percent firmer at 15,701 points from trading.