US stock Market expanded this week

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a weekly rise by 5.63% to reach 1,786.184 on July 28, 2023 up from 1,690.968 on July 21, 2023. The market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) increased weekly from $17.330B to $18.31B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 9,888 shares worth $634,238 compared to 38,396 shares worth $721,968 last week. The increase was actually expected, given the uncertainty surrounding the governship at BDL as stocks and especially real estate stocks  are considered a safe haven.

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 96.34%, while the banking and industrials sectors grasped the remaining 3.64% and 0.03% shares respectively.  The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares rose by 7.03% to settle at $79.95/ share
• Solidere (B) shares rose by 7.82% to settle at $80/ share
• Ciments Blancs (N) shares rose by 0.23% to settle at $22.05/ share
• Blom GDR shares declined by 9.91% to settle at $2/ share
• Blom Listed shares rose by 0.4% to settle at $2.51/ share
• Audi listed shares rose by 8% to settle at $1.89/ share
• BEMO shares rose by 8.7% to settle at $1.25/ share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 39.62 by July 28^th, 2023.

The Arab stock market expanded this week as S&P Pan Arab and MSCI rose weekly by 1.33% and 2.03% respectively by July 28, to stand at 978.29 and 1035.15. Moreover, the bourse of Qatar and Morocco expanded each respectively by 4.29% and 3.23%, while the bourse of Egypt contracted by 1.36% by July 28, 2023.

In the US, S&P 500 and NASDAQ increased respectively by 0.02% and 0.12% to stand at 4537.41 and 14,050.11 by July 28, compared to the previous week. Indeed, US GDP for the second quarter grew at an annual rate of 2.4%; moreover a drop is US jobless claims over the week proved that the US economy remained resilient. As such, Federal Reserve’ economists anticipate that the US will avoid a recession.

Major European stock markets recorded a better performance this week as DAX Germany and FTSE 100 increased respectively by 1.34% and 0.59% to stand at 16,394.8 and 7,708.6 on July 28. Indeed, UK inflation eased to 7.9% by end of June 2023. However, CAC40 France slightly dropped by 0.05% to stand at 1485.99 by July 28. Additionally, NIKKEI Japan rose weekly by 1.41% to stand at 32,759.23 on July 28, 2023.