Some investors feel their way back to Wall Street

After the recent price slide, some investors feel their way back to Wall Street. The US standard value index Dow Jones closed on Wednesday 0.3 percent higher to 34,390 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq, however, lost 0.2 percent to 14,512 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 4359 points. The situation also eased for government bonds, causing the yield on ten-year Treasuries to fall to 1.525 percent. The interest rate hike fears have not yet disappeared, said Jim Smigiel, chief investor at the asset manager SEI. "Interest rates are low by historical standards, but a sharp, sustained increase causes unrest in the markets when the economy hardly has time to adjust to it. Stockbrokers also watched the dispute over raising the US debt ceiling with worried expressions. Without an agreement, there is a threat of a government shutdown from Friday, the closure of numerous authorities. According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the US could default on October 18. According to experts, this would plunge the stock exchanges worldwide into chaos. The dollar index, which reflects the exchange rate to major currencies, rose to an eleven-month high of 94.4 points. Marshall Gittler, chief analyst at brokerage firm BDSwiss, said that this was a sign of confidence that those involved would, as usual, get together at the last minute. Meanwhile, more investors cashed in on the crude oil market and pushed the price of the US WTI variety down by up to two percent to $ 73.74 per barrel (159 liters). "In addition, there is growing concern that electricity rationing in China could slow down the industry there and thus also the demand for oil and gas," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch. Boeing, which was 3.2 percent more expensive, was also in demand. The aircraft manufacturer was thus responsible for around half of the Dow's daily profit. The Airbus competitor is hoping, after a successful test flight for the Chinese supervisory authority, with a quick flight permit for the 737 Max from the authorities. This is fueling speculation about possible orders from the Middle Kingdom. Machines of the type 737 Max were banned from flying in 2019 after two crashes worldwide. At Micron, however, a sales warning for the current quarter overshadowed the strong business figures in the previous quarter. The memory chip manufacturer expects lower demand from PC manufacturers due to supply problems with other computer components. Since demand is also normalizing overall, falling prices must be expected, which could only be partially offset by savings, wrote analyst Kinngai Chan from the research firm Summit Insights. Micron has benefited from the home office trend since the outbreak of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Micron papers were cheaper by almost two percent.