The stock markets in New York advanced further on Wednesday after the advance the day before. Hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine sparked optimism among investors. We are also looking forward to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.
The US central bank is expected to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to address high inflation. It will be the first-rate hike since 2018.
On the war front, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said in a speech on Tuesday that a peace deal with Russia “started to sound more realistic”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said he hopes to see a compromise in the negotiations with Ukraine.
Shortly after opening, the Dow-Jones index was 1.4 percent higher at 34,005 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent to 4324 points, and tech gauge Nasdaq rose 1.7 percent to 13,165 points.
Chinese tech companies listed on Wall Street rose sharply after the sector’s strong recovery during Asian stock market trading. Earlier this week, Chinese tech companies came under considerable pressure amid concerns about stricter regulations in both China and the United States, where some major Chinese companies were in danger of losing their stock exchange listing. As a result, the Chinese e-commerce groups Alibaba and JD.com rose 15 and 20 percent. The Chinese taxi service Didi Global bounced almost 42 percent.
Apple won 1.3 percent. Taiwanese Foxconn posted more profit than expected last quarter. The company, best known as a maker of Apple’s iPhone, benefited from strong demand for that smartphone in the holiday quarter. Foxconn has also partially restarted the factories in Shenzhen, China. They were shut down because of the lockdown in the Chinese city.
Coffee chain Starbucks benefited from a positive analyst report from JPMorgan and climbed 6 percent. Starbucks also announced that CEO Kevin Johnson would retire next month. Founder Howard Schultz returns to take over Johnson’s duties temporarily.
Tesla won 2 percent. According to Bloomberg news agency, the electric car manufacturer is suspending production at its factory in Shanghai for two days because the Chinese authorities are imposing additional restrictions to contain a significant corona outbreak.
