The US equity market suffers as investors assess the prospect of higher interest rates

This week, the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a growth of 1.28% to reach 1,354.307 on November 18, 2022. The market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) rose weekly from $13.705B to $13.88B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 29,390 shares worth $1,689,227 compared to 16,883 shares worth $566,553 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 91.36%, while the banking sector and the industrial sector grasped the remaining of 3.88% and 4.75%, respectively. The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares increased by 3.6% to settle at $57.6/share
• Solidere (B) shares increased by 2.79% to settle at $57.05/share
• Audi listed fell by 14.55% to settle at $1.41/share
• Ciments Blanc N jumped by 16.52% to settle at $12.06/share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 41.01 by November 18, 2022.

In the Arab region, major Arab bourses recorded insignificant changes this week. The S&P Pan Arab index decreased by 0.87%, whereas the MSCI index increased by 0.71%, compared to last week. Moreover, Bourse of Egypt, Morocco and Kuwait added 6.46%, 4.42% and 0.74% respectively, by the end of this week. Meanwhile, the bourse of Tunisia, Qatar and UAE DFM dropped by 1.3%, 2.74% and 0.94% respectively by the end of this week.

The US equity market suffered this week as S&P 500 and NASDAQ respectively fell by 1.16% and 1.58% on a weekly basis to stand at 3,946.56 and 11,144.96 by Friday November, 18, 2022. The US market witnessed a tough week following the statement of Fed officials that they will continue on increasing interest rates in December in order to achieve a 2% inflation target on the medium term.

In Europe, equity market posted a positive record by the end of week, on November 18 2022. In fact, DAX index and CAC 40 registered an uptick of 1.5% and 0.83%, respectively, to stand at 14,438.6 and 6,649.86 respectively by November 18, 2022 up from last week 14,224.86 and 6595.2. In the same token, the FTSE 100 increased by 0.79% from 7,351.17 to 7,409.48 by Friday after the announcement of a conservative budget. As for Japan, NIKKEI index recorded a weekly downturn of 1.29% to end up the week at 27,899.77.