The excitement that followed Anthropic's planned IPO is losing some steam on Tuesday. The US stock exchanges have a mixed start to trading.
The Dow Jones of standard values opens almost unchanged at 52,277 points.
The more broadly diversified S&P 500 is trading almost unchanged at 7,639 points.
The Nasdaq technology exchange gained around 0.5 percent to 26,026 points.
The Nasdaq 100, which tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies with the highest market capitalization, starts around 0.5 percent up at 29,051 points.
Investors are looking forward to upcoming company figures, the upcoming interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the tensions in the Middle East.
The Fed will decide on interest rates on Wednesday, followed by the European Central Bank on Thursday. Market participants do not expect interest rate increases from either central bank, but the words of the monetary authorities are being followed very closely on the markets.
Daniela Hathorn, market analyst at capital.com, said markets were particularly sensitive to the possibility that elevated energy prices and persistent inflation could force central banks to maintain restrictive monetary policies. For stocks, it is increasingly important to distinguish whether higher returns are due to economic resilience or to inflation and fiscal concerns.
The former could support corporate profits. The latter threatens to put further pressure on valuations, says Hathorn.
The accounting season in the USA has begun. This Tuesday, the US companies PayPal, Coca-Cola and United Parcel Service Inc., among others, are presenting their figures. Positive results from companies such as United Parcel Service Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. are helping to lift market sentiment. UPS shares gained around one percent at the start of the stock market. Coca-Cola's papers remain unchanged. Both companies had previously raised their sales forecasts for the full year.
The US payment service provider PayPal has also raised its forecast for the full year after a surprisingly high quarterly profit. The share rose slightly by around 0.3 percent.
The numbers from the large US tech companies are just as important for investors. Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are presenting their quarterly reports this week. “Investors are increasingly paying attention to whether the high investments in AI infrastructure translate into sustainable sales growth and profitability,” says Hathorn.
Anthropic's planned IPO is taking more and more shape. The AI developer filed its long-awaited prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The company therefore plans to be listed on the US technology exchange Nasdaq under the symbol “ANT”.
The stock market debut (IPO) is expected by the end of the year at the latest. The prospectus does not mention a specific date, nor does it specify the desired valuation. It is expected that this could be on a similar level to that of the space company SpaceX. Elon Musk's company went public in June at a record valuation of $1.77 trillion. Anthropic did not initially comment on this when asked.
Anthropic's IPO is an important test of sentiment for the entire AI market.
Geopolitics remains another important source of uncertainty. After a small increase, the price of oil fell slightly again on Tuesday afternoon. The North Sea Brent variety for delivery in December fell by around one percent to $114.67 per barrel (159 liters).
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan held talks with Iranian representatives in Tehran on Monday to ease tensions in the Middle East. The four countries agreed to continue talks, Iranian state media reported. However, the situation remains fragile given new attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on key oil producer Saudi Arabia.
Microsoft: The group will offer severance packages to about 60,000 employees as part of the company's efforts to cut costs and reposition its workforce for the AI era. The papers remain unchanged for the time being.
Apple: The iPhone Duo, one of Apple's biggest new products in years, is attracting a growing number of complaints from customers who report that the foldable display is cracking after just a few hours or days of use. However, the shares were barely changed at the start of trading.
