U.S. Labor Market and Quarterly Figures Lead to Mixed Sentiments on Wall Street

On Tuesday, Wall Street displayed an ambivalent face: While rising labor costs and house prices caused concern over stubborn inflation, corporate earnings provided glimmers of hope. Investors shifted down a gear, leading to losses in the Dow Jones Industrial of 0.50 percent, while the S&P 500 conceded 0.35 percent and the Nasdaq 100 fell by 0.42 percent. The considerably higher labor costs at the beginning of the year in the USA took the markets by surprise and heightened fears of sustained high price pressure. Ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate decision, a continuation of the restrictive monetary policy stance is now increasingly expected. While Wall Street stumbled overall, there were still outstanding individual stocks to note. 3M was able to score with better-than-expected earnings figures for the first quarter, rising by 5.1 percent. The stock benefited from recent corporate developments and a consistent dividend policy. A different picture emerged at McDonald’s: Despite initial losses, the stock turned positive and ended the day with a gain of 0.3 percent. Although the fast-food giant faced ongoing challenges, it exceeded expectations regarding quarterly profit. Coca-Cola also remained in the focus of investors but had to give up initial gains completely, even though the company had raised its revenue forecast after a strong start to the year. In the healthcare sector, Eli Lilly shone with a gain of 6.6 percent after a robust start to the year and even raised the forecast for the full year. The pharmaceutical giant pleased investors with compelling business figures, especially in its weight loss drugs. PayPal was also among the top performers in the Nasdaq 100, rising by 2.5 percent after reporting quarterly figures. In contrast, Tesla lost some of the previous day's gains, closing down 3.8 percent. GE Healthcare experienced a slump of 10 percent following disappointing sales and earnings figures for the past quarter. The post-market mood could be rekindled by Amazon and AMD, both with slight gains, as the release of their quarterly figures is still pending and market participants' interest is high.