US Equities in Red amid Growing Recession concerns

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a weekly decreased by 4.79% to reach 1,761.628 on May 12, 2023 down from 1,850.349 on May 05, 2023. The market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) decreased weekly from $18.77B to $18.05B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 22,559 shares worth $1, 661, 342 compared to 11,289 shares worth $947,354 last week.

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the real estate sector grasped the lion’s share of the BSE’s trading value with a stake of 92.46%, while banking sector grasped the rest of the stake of 7.45% .The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares decreased by 4.80% to settle at $81.35/ share
• Solidere (B) shares slumped by 5.47% to settle at $80.40/ share
• Blom listed shares went up by 0.39% to $2.56/share
• Bemco shares plunged by 8% to $1.15/share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 41.01 by May 12, 2023.

In the Arab region, S&P Pan Arab increased weekly by 1.03% to stand at 940.30 while MSCI fell weekly by 0.39 % to stand at 977.82 by May 12, 2023. Moreover, the bourse of Morocco, and Saudi Arabia expanded each respectively by 2.04 % and 2.46%, while the bourse of Kuwait and UAE contracted by 1.39 % and 0.96%, respectively by May 12, 2023.

In the US, the market retreated this week amid growing concerns over a potential recession on back of weak economic data.  Accordingly, the S&P 500 went down this week by 0.14%.

Major European stock markets recorded a mixed performance this week with the DAX and the FTSE 100 decreasing by 0.29% and 0.25%, respectively.  Meanwhile the CAC 40 rose this week by 0.17%. Additionally, Nikkei Japan rose this week by 0.79% to stand at 29,388.3 by May 12, 2023.