Oil prices rise due to Chinese export ban, investors flee into bonds

US stock markets failed to maintain their initial gains on Thursday. Rising oil prices and bond yields again caused a bad mood. The Dow Jones index of standard stocks fell 0.3 percent to 50,779 points. The broader S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent to 7,638 points. The Nasdaq technology exchange index fell by 0.3 percent to 26,779 positions.

Sentiment remained tense as global bond markets came under renewed pressure. The yield on ten-year US government bonds reached 5.3423 percent, its highest level in 24 years. Rising energy costs fueled inflation concerns and reinforced expectations that Fed interest rates would remain high. This depressed prices on the bond market and drove up yields. As a result, many investors preferred bonds over stocks, which are considered riskier investments. "The bond market is weighing heavily on most stocks, but not to the same extent on the highest index-weighted stocks," said Steve Sosnick, principal analyst at Interactive Brokers.

On the oil market, prices for North Sea oil Brent and US oil WTI rose by around two to 3.5 percent to $101.42 and $92.19 per barrel (159 liters). Chinese refiners have suspended exports of oil products until further notice, according to Reuters information. This move could cause even more unrest in fuel markets already strained by the Iran war. "The Chinese export ban points to concerns about the availability of products on the domestic market," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Meanwhile, a rise in the dollar to its highest level in a year and a half weighed on prices for industrial metals. Aluminum fell in price by up to almost two percent to a twelve-week low of $3,112 per ton. The price of copper fell by 1.4 percent to $14,213.50 per ton. A strong dollar makes metals traded in the US currency more expensive for buyers from other currency areas and thus dampens demand. In addition, the markets in the important buyer country China remained closed due to a public holiday, which led to lower sales.

Meanwhile, an optimistic business outlook from the IT consulting firm Accenture drove the entire software and IT industry. The Irish company's US-listed shares shot up more than 18 percent. The stocks of competitors Cognizant and IBM rose by 6.4 and 2.6 percent in the wake. Broader software stocks such as Salesforce and Microsoft also rose. According to analysts at Kepler Cheuvreux, Accenture's annual report calls into question the scenario according to which traditional IT service providers are among the losers of the AI ​​boom.