[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The major indices of the New York stock market closed lower, unable to overcome valuation pressures. Amazon and Tesla, which announced their earnings this week, showed contrasting stock price movements. The cryptocurrency Bitcoin surged, breaking away from its weakness.
On the 30th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 185.51 points (0.54%) to close at 33,874.85, the S&P 500 index dropped 30.30 points (0.72%) to 4,181.17, and the Nasdaq index declined 119.86 points (0.85%) to 13,962.68.
Despite strong U.S. economic indicators on the day, worsening COVID-19 situations in India and Brazil and a slowdown in China's manufacturing data pressured the market.
China's April Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 51.1 from 51.9 in the previous month, and with the overlapping COVID-19 crises in India and Brazil, a market correction was inevitable. On the same day, the U.S. government announced restrictions on travelers coming from India starting May 4, further worsening the situation in India.
U.S. economic indicators all exceeded expectations. Americans' personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in March increased by 4.2% compared to the previous month, and personal income surged by 21.1% month-over-month.
The PCE price index rose 0.5% month-over-month in March and increased 2.3% year-over-year. The core PCE price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.4% month-over-month and 1.8% year-over-year in March.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for April rose to 72.1 from 66.3 in the previous month.
Amid strong economic data, there were calls within the Federal Reserve (Fed) to begin tapering its asset purchases gradually.
“Hawkish” Robert Kaplan, President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, argued at an event that the Fed should slow down its monthly $120 billion asset purchases or start discussing tapering.
Amazon fell 0.11% despite announcing a 44% increase in sales compared to the same period last year the day before. Amazon's stock price showed strength by surpassing $3,500 for the first time intraday but closed down 0.1% as buying momentum weakened in the afternoon.
Twitter's stock plunged 15% due to a downward revision of its earnings outlook despite strong earnings results.
Investors are focusing on the future earnings of companies that benefited from COVID-19, beyond current earnings. Amazon received positive reviews from investors for its forecast of continued sales growth in the second quarter.
In contrast, Tesla, which had faced questions about profitability in earlier earnings announcements, rebounded 4% as expectations for strong sales from parts suppliers led to anticipated revenue growth.
Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, which had plunged after the U.S. Secretary of Commerce stated that gig (GIG) workers should be employed as full-time employees, continued to show weakness for the second consecutive day.
Apple's stock fell 1.5% following news that the European Union (EU) preliminarily judged Apple's App Store to have violated fair competition regulations.
Major oil companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron saw their stock prices decline despite improved earnings, affected by weak oil prices.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin notably surged 7%, returning to the $56,000 range. Ethereum, the second-largest coin by market capitalization that had been aggressively chasing Bitcoin, rose only 2%. Dogecoin also showed gains of over 6%.
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