"S&P 500 Swings 1,500 Points, Oil Prices Hit Record"

Last night, the U.S. stock market exhibited a magical trend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at its highest point of the day, reaching 31,515 points, and then continuously declined, falling by 880 points to reach its lowest point of the day at 30,635 points.

When the market was convinced that it was going to be another day of significant losses for U.S. stocks, the Dow Jones Index rebounded by over 600 points in the last two hours, closing at 31,261 points, with a daily increase of 0.03%.

Within a single trading day, with a nearly 900-point drop and a rebound of over 600 points, what exactly happened with the Dow Jones Industrial Average as it traversed these 1,500 points?

Was the significant rebound at the end of the day related to Russia's claim that the commander-in-chief and deputy commander of the Azov Battalion laid down their arms and surrendered?

01

The initial decline in U.S. stocks should be largely related to concerns about an economic recession, with new data indicating that inflation is increasingly high and prices are rising.

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On Friday, the average price of gasoline in the United States set a new record, reaching $4.593 per gallon.

We have been saying that the main components of U.S. inflation are the rising prices of energy and food. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, international crude oil prices have risen from negative prices at that time to over $100 now, which has also led to the continuous increase in the average price of gasoline and the increasing transportation and logistics costs in the United States.

Target, which suffered a significant earnings miss, claimed that the rise in transportation and freight costs to historically high levels was unforeseen. A few days ago, the company announced its latest financial report, showing a 4% increase in turnover, but a substantial 52% decrease in profits. Market analysis attributes this to the rising costs that have eroded corporate profits.

Several companies that have recently announced their financial reports are facing the same situation, including Walmart, Target, and Ross Stores.Ross Department Stores is the latest retail giant to report its financial performance, and it's worth mentioning that its results are even worse. Not only has its profit plummeted, but its sales revenue has also declined year-over-year. In the first quarter of this year, the company's sales revenue fell by 4.4%, while Walmart and Target, which had previously released their financial reports, both managed to achieve year-over-year growth in sales revenue.

At the same time, Ross Department Stores' profits have plummeted by 29%. After the financial report was released, Ross Department Stores' stock price opened with a gap down by 24%, quickly creating the largest intraday drop in nearly 30 years. The last significant decline can be traced back to 1986.

In the coming period, similar situations will increasingly occur in other U.S. listed companies. Investors are growing increasingly worried and are continuously selling off their stocks.

02

After a sharp decline at the opening, the U.S. stock market miraculously rebounded in the last two hours.

According to Russian journalists, the commander and deputy commander of the Azov Battalion have announced their surrender and have already walked out of the Azov Battalion, laying down their weapons. If the news is confirmed, it means that there has been a significant change in the conflict situation, which may have a significant impact on the financial market.

Last night, the U.S. stock market closed with mixed results, but the fluctuations were not significant. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.03%, the S&P 500 Index rose by 0.01%, barely closing in the red, and the Nasdaq slightly fell by 0.3%, but the decline was not significant.

However, looking at the entire week, the U.S. stock market's performance remains very poor. The Nasdaq fell by 3.82% for the week, marking seven consecutive weeks of decline; the S&P 500 Index also had seven consecutive weeks of decline, falling by 3.04% this week, which is already the longest record of consecutive weeks of decline for the index since 2001.

However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has set a more impressive record for the longest consecutive weeks of decline, currently at eight consecutive weeks of decline. This record dates back to 1923 and can be considered a century-old record.

The performance of Chinese concept stocks continues to be good, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index falling by 0.86%.Yesterday in the Hong Kong stock market, the performance of technology stocks was very encouraging, with the Hang Seng Technology Index rising by 4.74% for the whole day. This news is also good for Chinese concept stocks in the US stock market.

For some time now, the performance of both Hong Kong stocks and Chinese concept stocks in the US has been quite good, not only can they go against the trend but also rise against the trend.

The performance of US technology stocks is much worse.

Tesla's stock price fell by more than 10% during the trading day and closed down by 6%, reaching a new low since last August. In contrast, the stock prices of several Chinese concept new energy vehicle companies fell by a smaller amount.