On Wall Street, in the last four working days of last year, share prices fell, while European investors were in a good mood at the end of last year, as well as at the beginning of the new year.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index slipped 0.7 percent last week, to 48,382 points, while the S&P 500 fell 1 percent, to 6,858 points, and the Nasdaq index fell 1.5 percent, to 23,235 points.
In the last four working days before the New Year holidays on the world’s largest stock exchange, trading volume was modest, and share prices fell.
Investors were focused on the minutes from the recent meeting of Fed leaders, which showed that most of them supported the reduction of interest rates in December, for the third time this year, but that there were large differences of opinion about the risks to the economy.
And while some Fed officials believe that interest rate cuts should continue due to the weakness of the labor market, others believe that interest rates should be kept at current levels for a while because inflation is still moving well above the Fed’s target levels of around 2 percent.
Therefore, the record did not affect expectations regarding interest rates in the market.
According to recently published estimates, in 2026 Fed leaders expect one rate cut on average, while the market estimates that rates will be cut twice by 0.25 percentage points each.
In the whole of last year, the Dow Jones index rose about 13 percent, the S&P 500 about 16.4, and the Nasdaq 20.4 percent.
Thus, the reign of the ‘bulls’ on the market, which began in October 2022, continued last year.
On the first day of the new year on Wall Street, indexes rose, which is mainly due to the correction of stock prices after four days of decline, reports SEEbiz.
European investors optimistic
And on European stock exchanges, share prices rose last week. London’s FTSE index strengthened by 0.8 percent, to 9,951 points, and Frankfurt’s DAX rose by the same amount, reaching 24,539 points. The Paris CAC jumped, on the other hand, by 1.1 percent, to 8,195 points.
In the whole of last year, the STOXX 600 index of leading European shares gained 16.6 percent.
At the same time, the Madrid IBEX index led the way in terms of growth, with a jump of almost 50 percent. Italy’s FTSE MIB index followed with a 31.5 percent rise, its biggest jump since 1998.
The German DAX index, on the other hand, rose by around 23 percent, thanks to the government’s stimulus measures, from fiscal incentives to infrastructure investments.
The London FTSE index rose by around 22 percent, and the lowest growth was recorded by the Paris CAC index, around 10.5 percent, which is a consequence of the political crisis and the growth of the budget deficit and public debt.
