In the early morning of the 4th Beijing time, US stocks fell slightly late Thursday, with technology stocks leading the way. The market is assessing the tense international geopolitical situation with US job market data and is awaiting tomorrow's non-farm payrolls report.
The Dow fell 25.41 points, or 0.07%, to 34574.97; the Nasdaq fell 128.73 points, or 0.94%, to 13627.60; and the S & P 500 fell 14.08 points, or 0.33%, to 4194.04.
Given the threat of US sanctions, Russia's finance minister announced on Wednesday that the country was prepared to abandon the dollar entirely in its national wealth fund (NWF) and move further to the euro, renminbi and gold. The news frustrated market sentiment.
Russian Finance Minister Siluanov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that the Russian Ministry of Finance will change the structure of the national wealth fund within a month, in which the share of the US dollar will be reduced to zero, the pound sterling will be reduced to 5%, the yen will remain at 5%, the euro will grow to 40%, the RMB will grow to 30%, and gold will account for 20%.
In response to a question about the adjustment of the investment structure of the national wealth fund, Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President, said that de-dollarization is a long-term process visible to the naked eye. At the same time, he pointed out that not only Russia is de-dollarizing, but many countries around the world are doing similar things because they are beginning to worry about the reliability of their major foreign exchange reserve currencies.
Other areas of the market have also attracted considerable attention. The so-called "retail group stocks", the hotly debated stocks on the WallStreetBets sub-section of the Reddit Forum, generally fell. On Wednesday, AMC cinema line (AMC), Naked Brand Group (NAKD), BlackBerry (BB) and 3B home furnishingsWSB stocks such as (BBBY) rose generally, with AMC cinema up 95 per cent.
"I don't know if it poses a major threat to the market," Ryan Nauman, market strategist at Zephyr, said of retail holdings. This is more like an experience worth learning. This is no longer the stock market of our grandparents or our parents. Now, investment professionals may need to start looking for alternative data, reconsidering their investment themes and taking into account the growing group of retail investors. "
On Thursday, economic data showed that US ADP employment rose by 978000 in May, the highest increase since June last year.
Markets are still waiting for Friday's non-farm payrolls data to gauge the strength of the recovery and whether the Fed is likely to scale back its asset purchase program during the outbreak. Us non-farm payrolls data for April were extremely disappointing, with only 266000 jobs added, far less than the 1 million expected by the market, giving the Fed reason to keep its current policy unchanged.
But some market participants pointed out that the Fed's monetary policy stance could change significantly due to changes in non-farm data.
Steven Blitz, US economist at TS Lombard, said: "May non-farm payrolls data are really important. It will convince the market that the Fed will announce a contraction at the end of July. "
The Federal Reserve reportedly announced that it would begin gradually selling its corporate bond holdings on June 7.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the United States has hit a new low in more than a year.
The Labor Department reported on Thursday that initial jobless claims fell to 385000 in the week ended May 29, falling below 400000 for the first time since March 2020, down about 20, 000 from the previous week's revised figure and the lowest since March 14 last year.
Initial jobless claims in the United States fell below 400000 for the first time during the pandemic, as employment accelerated and the economy strengthened at the start of the summer, analysts said. As the remaining outbreak-related prevention and control restrictions are relaxed, more vaccinated Americans are expected to resume travel and social activities, and the labour market will continue to grow.
Separate data showed that US ADP employment rose by 978000 in May, indicating that the number of new jobs in the US private sector was the highest in nearly a year.
According to the ADP, employment in the construction sector increased by 65000 in May, compared with an increase of 41000 in April. Manufacturing employment increased by 52000 in May and 55000 in April. Trade / transport / utility employment increased by 118000 in May and 155000 in April. Employment in the financial services sector increased by 20, 000 in May and 11000 in April. Employment in professional / business services increased by 68000 in May and 104000 in April.
Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said private sector employment data had improved significantly from recent months, the strongest increase since the early days of the recovery.
Richardson said that while employment among commodity producers was growing steadily, service providers contributed the largest share of the growth, far exceeding the average monthly growth over the past six months. Companies of all sizes have experienced job growth, reflecting the epidemic and improved economic conditions.
Focus stocks
Gauss Electronics, Express, 3B Home, Game StationWSB concept stocks are generally lower.
AMC Cinema signed equity allocation agreements with B.riley Securities and Citigroup to sell up to 11.55 million shares on the floor.
TeslaAbout 6000 cars were recalled because of loose bolts.
Delta expects a pre-tax loss of $10 million to $1.2 billion in the second quarter.
C3.ai2021 's revenue for the fiscal year was $183 million, slightly below market expectations. Analysts at brokerage Wade Bush cut its target price to $100 from $175.
Splunk's first-quarter loss was higher than the market expected, and a number of investment banks cut their target prices.
Workhorse shares rose. Recent data show that a large number of US retail investors have entered the stock.
New OrientalRecently, it was removed from the FTSE China 50 Index.