New York (EFE) in raising interest rates.
The Nasdaq, which brings together technology companies, the big losers last year, posted its best January since 2001, while the selective S&P 500, with cumulative growth of 6.2%, marked its best January since 2019.
The Dow Jones Industrials, which brings together only the 30 largest listed companies in the country, rose a modest 2.8%.
The Wall Street Shutdown in 2022
The US market has opted for purchases in January after saying goodbye in 2022 to the worst year seen since 2008, with a spectacular 33% drop in the Nasdaq, after the Fed raised rates seven times -four of them, in 0.75 points- to curb high inflation.
However, a series of data pointing to a slowing economy and prices prompted the central bank to slow December’s rise to half a percentage point, and that trend has continued this month dominated by quarterly results.
With the January monetary policy meeting underway, it is expected that tomorrow, at its end, the Fed will raise rates to a lesser extent, a quarter of a percentage point, although its president, Jerome Powell, will also reiterate that the fight against inflation has not ended.
At the corporate level, the earnings season is being weak but it follows the line of the estimate, since the analysts had lowered the bar and expected decreases derived from the increase in costs and lower consumer demand.
An example of this has been the large American bank, a thermometer of the economy, which reduced its profits in 2022 and has once again accumulated reserves when spotting the feared recession.
The technological
The big technology companies, which are publishing their results starting tomorrow with similar forecasts, have also undertaken massive layoffs that affect tens of thousands of people but have been applauded by investors as they see them as a way to improve their accounts.
By sectors, the winners of the month are communications and non-essential goods companies, which have advanced more than 12%, and technology and real estate companies, which have risen around 7%, according to data from the firm Fidelity.
Hardest hit are healthcare and utilities, considered “defensive stocks” and relatively safe in a down market, which are down around 3%.
In other markets, US crude oil (WTI) lost almost 9% of its value in January due to fears of recession in the US and Europe, and despite the hope that the reopening of China after the strong restrictions against covid-19 increase demand.