Plan for corona breath test inspires Astrotec

Astrotech stood out among US stocks with a price increase of almost 40 percent at times. In collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic, the medical technology company Astrotec wants to test whether the BreathTest-1000 device, which detects cancer by analyzing the breath of test subjects, can also identify corona infections. Investors are holding back on Wall Street pending US monetary policy hints. The US standard value index Dow Jones was trading little changed on Wednesday evening at 33,446 points. The S&P 500 was 0.1 percent higher. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent. Investors are eagerly awaiting the publication of the Fed minutes of the latest Fed deliberations, said analyst Ricardo Evangelista of the brokerage firm ActivTrades. "These minutes are carefully combed for clues as to whether the Fed believes its own statement that it will not raise rates until at least 2024." Finally, the latest US economic data suggested that the world's largest economy is recovering faster than expected. Investors also tore themselves over the papers of XL Fleet, which were at their peak by almost 30 percent more expensive. The specialist for the electrification of commercial vehicles is to equip the wind and solar park developer Apex Clean Energy with hybrid vehicles. The Amazon share gained 1.7 percent. The boss of the online giant, Jeff Bezos, has endorsed the infrastructure program announced by US President Biden - and also the planned increase in corporate tax from 21 to 28 percent for financing. Amazon has been criticized for years because the group pays little or no corporate taxes. The figures from the cruise line Carnival (+1.4 percent) were received positively. The company reported a higher loss than expected, but burned less money than feared. Homology Medicines slumped nearly 23 percent. The genetic engineering expert wants to increase the capital. The money is to be used, among other things, to finance clinical tests and to expand production capacities. Beyond Meat fell 2.7 percent. Plans to build a production facility in China were unsuccessful.