The American technology group Apple was under pressure on the stock exchanges in New York on Monday. The company relies heavily on China to produce its devices, and investors are concerned about the social unrest arising in that country over the strict corona measures.
In major Chinese cities, people took to the streets to protest President Xi Jinping’s zero-covid policy.
Apple lost 1.4 percent. According to the Bloomberg news agency, the unrest at Apple’s largest iPhone production site in China may result in a production slump of 6 million devices. However, a lot depends on how quickly Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that operates the factory, can get people back on the assembly line after the violent protests against the corona measures. Electric car manufacturer Tesla, which has a large factory in Shanghai, fell 0.7 percent.
The overall mood on Wall Street was also negative due to concerns about the situation in China. Shortly after the start of trading, the Dow Jones index was 0.2 percent lower at 34,264 points. The broad S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent to 4,009 points, and the tech indicator Nasdaq lowered 0.3 percent to 11,197 points.
Oil companies fell after oil prices fell to their lowest level since last year. China is the world’s largest oil importer, and the unrest in the country could further reduce the oil demand. A barrel of US oil costs 2.1 percent less at $ 74.68. Brent oil became 2.5 percent cheaper at $ 81.58 per barrel. ExxonMobil fell 2.8 percent, and Chevron fell 2.5 percent.
Chinese companies listed on Wall Street were unaffected by investor concerns over China. Alibaba and JD.com rose 1.3 and 1.9 percent, respectively.
The American web store group Amazon climbed 2.7 percent. American consumers spent a record amount on online sales during the Black Friday shopping spree. The figures may be a boost for retail companies now that the purchasing power of many consumers is under pressure due to high inflation. Canadian e-commerce company Shopify rose 7.6 percent.
Crypto exchange Coinbase went up 0.7 percent. However, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum also fell due to the unrest in China. The crypto markets have been under pressure for some time due to the bankruptcy of the crypto exchange FTX.