The Hang Seng Index lost 0.74% at the beginning of the trading

Investors returned from the short holiday in China and followed the global sell-off the day before. Hong Kong stocks fell in early trading.

The Hang Seng Index dropped by 211.79 points, or 0.74%, to 28,382.02 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index decreased by 41.03 points, or 0.39%, to 10,613.27 points. The Hang Seng Composite Information Technology Industry Index climbed by 279.29 points, or 1.43%, to 19,870.69.

Wall Street stocks settled lower for the third day in a row

Investors paid attention to the minutes of the April meeting of the Federal Reserve Board. It showed that some Federal Reserve Board officials are open to discussing the reduction of debt purchase plans in future sessions. It changed the market sentiment.

Still, Fed chair Jay Powell affirmed the central bank would maintain its ultra-accommodative stand until the US labor market recovers from the pandemic. 

According to Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, the Fed cannot stay on the sidelines forever. Markets see them slower and worry that a panicked reaction comes too late. 

On May 19, the three major Wall Street indexes continued to fall. The Dow Jones Index slumped by 164.62 points to 33,896.04 points. The S&P Index slipped by 12.15 points to 4,115.68 points. On the other hand, Nasdaq lost 3.9 points to close at 13,299.74 points.

General Motors – Wall Street’s favourite

Wall Street is getting bullish about GM stock. Bill Selesky, an Argus analyst, increased his target for General Motors shares to $66 from $62 on Tuesday.

It followed the company’s first-quarter results, which were better than expected. More than 90% of analysts reporting about GM stock rated shares Buy. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks is approximately 55%. 

Moreover, the average analyst price target was less than $33 a year ago. It increased more than 100% to reach about $70 a share.