Stock market: Russian gas stop to Europe pulls Dow lower

The renewed escalation of the gas crisis in Europe pushed the US stock exchanges significantly into the red on Friday.

Stock market: Russian gas stop to Europe pulls Dow lower

The renewed escalation of the gas crisis in Europe pushed the US stock exchanges significantly into the red on Friday. Initial gains in the wake of robust labor market data fizzled out.

Contrary to what was announced, no gas will flow through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 from this Saturday, according to the state-owned company Gazprom. The reason is an oil leak in the Portovaya compressor station.

According to Gazprom, the flow of gas will now be stopped until it is cleared. It had previously been expected that gas would flow through the line again from Saturday after the announced three-day maintenance work was completed. The news brings Europe one step closer to blackouts, gas rationing and a deep recession. A significant economic downturn in the region would also hit the important trading partner USA hard.

The leading US index Dow Jones Industrial lost interim gains of more than 1 percent and ended up falling 1.07 percent to 31,318.44 points. In the course of the week, the best-known Wall Street index recorded a loss of 2.99 percent.

For the market-wide S

Breathe a sigh of relief thanks to job data

Job data provided some relief in early trading. Unemployment rose surprisingly in August, albeit from a low level. Wage growth has slowed somewhat, but remains strong on a longer-term basis. In addition, the rate of employment growth slowed compared to July, when an exceptionally large number of new jobs were created. Overall, according to observers, the pressure on the US central bank to raise interest rates sharply in the fight against inflation has at least not increased any further.

"The US labor market is still running at full speed in the second half of the year," wrote Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank. Although the job creation can no longer match the target of the previous month, in view of the full employment achieved and the almost empty job market, this is not surprising, according to the expert.

In the environment, which has once again clearly clouded over, only three stocks in the Dow were able to hold their own in the profit zone. At the end of the index, the shares of the conglomerate 3M lost 3.2 percent.

At the top of the Nasdaq 100, shares of Lululemon soared 6.7 percent after the Canadian sportswear maker released its quarterly earnings report and raised full-year targets. Demand from high-income consumers has remained high, a trader said. Credit Suisse analyst Michael Binetti wrote: "The bottom line is that the company has shown outstanding strength in a significantly weakening retail environment."

According to figures presented, Broadcom's shares gained 1.7 percent in the third business quarter. The chip company has presented strong results, judged the expert Stacy Rasgon from the analysis house Bernstein Research. Semiconductor sales exceeded expectations. Overall, the demand outlook has also remained robust and Rasgon also called the targets for the fourth quarter "strong".

The euro suffered from the Russian gas ban and was last listed at 0.9954 US dollars. The European Central Bank had previously set the reference rate at $0.9993 (Thursday: $1.0004). The dollar thus cost 1.0007 (0.9996) euros. On the other hand, US government bonds, which are considered safe, benefited from the price losses on the stock market. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) rose by 0.53 percent to 116.59 points. In contrast, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell to 3.20 percent.

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