Wall Street’s Wavering Start After Higher Unemployment Figures

The stock exchanges in New York opened cautiously on Thursday after the price gains a day earlier. Investors on Wall Street processed disappointing figures on the weekly US payment claims. In addition, there were again many business results, including chip company Texas Instruments and telecom and entertainment company AT&T.

 

The number of new applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose by 419,000 last week, while economists had expected a drop to 350,000 applications on average. The figure may indicate that the recovery in the labour market in the United States from the corona crisis is weakening due to the advance of the Delta variant. The recovery of the labour market plays an essential role in the interest rate policy of the Federal Reserve, the umbrella of central banks in the US.

Shares of Texas Instruments fell 4.3 percent. The company came with solid quarterly results but warned that the figures in the third quarter could be disappointing. AT&T gained 0.2 percent thanks to better-than-expected performance over the period.

Aviation also received attention. American Airlines posted positive cash flow and net profit in the second quarter for the first time since the coronavirus crisis. Ticket sales recovered compared to the same period last year as Americans again booked flights within the US more often. Investors had hoped for more and put the stock more than 3 percent lower. Industry partner Southwest Airlines also came with figures and fell 3.2 percent.

The leading Dow-Jones index was 0.3 percent lower at 34,695 points shortly after opening. The broad S&P 500 fell from 0.1 percent to 4,354 points, and Nasdaq’s technology exchange gained 0.2 percent to 14,663 points.

The New York-listed Chinese taxi app Didi Global fell 7.3 percent. Chinese regulators consider imposing “unprecedented” measures on Didi. A massive fine is possible, reports Bloomberg news agency based on insiders. Didi made an IPO in New York late last month. Earlier it was announced that the Chinese authorities suspect Didi of illegally collecting personal data from users.