In Wall Street, investor optimism was dampened by uncertainty

After a two-day dry spell, Wall Street initially made the leap into positive territory. However, the surcharges were then given back. Investor optimism was dampened by uncertainty about when the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (ECB) will begin to reduce their monetary stimulus. Ironically, the ECB, decried as deaf, made the start and announced a reduction in its bond purchases as part of the PEPP program. The Dow Jones index turned 0.4 percent to 34,879 points in the red, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.5 (4493 points) and 0.3 percent (15,248 points). Crude oil, on the other hand, was unable to hold its initial gains. The US variety WTI fell 1.6 percent to 67.98 dollars per barrel (159 liters). Investors are torn between the production losses caused by cyclone "Ida" and the threat of weak demand because of the coronavirus pandemic that has flared up again, said analyst Kevin Solomon from financial services provider StoneX. Aluminum, on the other hand, continued to soar and was now as expensive on the LME as it was 13 years ago, at $ 2,848 per ton. The upheaval in the important bauxite export country Guinea and state-ordered production cuts in China drove up prices, wrote analysts at ANZ Bank. Among the companies, Lululemon stood out with a price increase of 10.5 percent. The yoga clothing retailer raised its sales target for the full year to $ 6.19 billion to $ 6.26 billion thanks to continued high demand. Analyst John Kernan from asset manager Cowen praised the company's target for 2023 this year. The shares of the video game provider Activision Blizzard ("Call of Duty"), Electronic Arts ("Fifa22") and Take-Two lost up to 2.7 percent. According to a Chinese media report, the government in Beijing does not want to approve any new online games for the time being. "That's not good news," said Neil Campling, chief telecom and technology analyst at asset manager Mirabaud. "The last temporary break in game approval was nine months." It has affected the profits and stock prices of the entire industry. The US-listed titles of the Chinese video game company NetEase fell by almost three percent.