Wall Street ended the week down – One name set the market in motion

The US stock market remained lower on Friday.

The S&P 500 index, which tracks large companies, weakened by 0.4 percent. The technology-focused Nasdaq fell by 0.9 percent and the Dow Jones index of industrial companies by 0.4 percent.

Among the large technology companies, the rise was left behind Apple (+0.5 %) and Tesla (+3.3%). Tesla was tightened by the news that the space company SpaceX could merge Tesla and the artificial intelligence company xAI:n with. Tesla’s CEO and largest single shareholder is Elon Muskwhich also owns SpaceX and xAI.

According to the Bloomberg news agency, there has been talk, for example, of the merger of Tesla and SpaceX and the merger of SpaceX and xAI and listing on the stock exchange. However, plans have not yet been confirmed.

Gold and silver prices fell sharply on Friday. The US dollar, on the other hand, strengthened.

The price of gold fell to about $4,900 and the price of silver to about $84 per ounce. The prices of both have set records due to geopolitical instability, as investors have sought refuge in precious metals known as stable stores of value. The price of gold has reached $5,480 per ounce and silver has reached $118 per ounce.

According to market commentators, the US president is behind the decline in stocks, the strengthening of the dollar and the decline in the value of precious metals Donald Trump’s announced the selection for the new governor of the central bank, the Fed. Trump announced Friday that he plans to nominate Kevin Warshin to head the Fed. The choice came to the market as a slight surprise, because it had been voted as the number one favorite Blackrockin leader Rick Rieder.

of the current head of the Fed Jerome Powell term ends in May. Warsh’s nomination must be confirmed by the US Senate. He already has previous experience at the Fed: Warsh served on the central bank’s executive board from 2006 to 2011. In this position, he became known for his hawkishness, i.e. for advocating a strict monetary policy.

Recently, however, he has expressed his support for the lower key interest rates desired by Trump.

“It remains to be seen how Kevin Warsh will fare as chairman. While he may be seen as more hawkish than some of the other candidates, he is widely respected in the market,” opined Bespoke Investment Group founder Paul Hickey According to investment media Barrons.

He adds that Warsh’s selection is likely to ease concerns about the Fed’s independence.

Next week, the focus is still on the earnings announcements of technology companies. On Wednesday, February 4, Google’s parent company will be in the earnings turn Alphabet and on Thursday, February 5, the e-commerce and cloud services company Amazon.