(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended in decline on Thursday, still badly oriented by the war in Ukraine and inflation, even if the drop in oil prices allowed it to limit its losses.
Updated yesterday at 5:09 p.m.
The Dow Jones fell 0.34% to 33,174.07 points, the NASDAQ index, heavily influenced by technology stocks, dropped 0.95%, to 13,129.96 points, and the broader S&P 500 index, 0.43%, to 4259.52 points.
“Stocks gave up some of yesterday’s gains […] while a new round of talks between Russia and Ukraine did not result in any positive developments,” Briefing.com analysts commented in a note.
The indices are, for a time, gone far into the red, the NASDAQ dropping up to 2.33%, before regaining a little height.
“Investors have benefited from the fact that oil prices have fallen further” after an initial correction on Wednesday, said Sam Stovall, head of investment strategy at CFRA.
In two sessions, the price of Brent from the North Sea, one of the two main varieties of black gold, thus lost nearly 15%.
“I’m surprised the market is holding up so well,” said Sam Stovall.
The market nevertheless continues to worry about inflation and soaring commodity prices, fueled by the invasion of Ukraine, with a barrel of oil remaining well above $100.
On Thursday, the CPI price index showed inflation at 7.9% in February in the United States, the highest since January 1982.
The bond market is pricing in inflation more and more ostensibly. The yield on US 10-year government bonds rose above 2% for the first time since February 25, the second day of the invasion of Ukraine.
The 2-year rate, which better reflects market expectations in terms of monetary policy, reached 1.73% for the first time in two and a half years.
“Inflation is expected to rise to 8.5%” in March in the United States, warned Sam Stovall, “and we will probably have a similar figure for April. So inflation will remain a problem. »
Rising rates traditionally penalize growth and technology stocks, which weighed on Apple (-2.72%), Tesla (-2.41%) and Nvidia (-1.55%).
Among the giant capitalizations, the title Amazon stood out (+5.41% to 2936.35 dollars) after the validation by the board of directors of the division by twenty of the action of the technological giant, to make it more accessible to small carriers.
The directors of the Seattle group also voted to release an envelope of ten billion dollars intended for share buybacks.
Despite the decline in oil and many raw materials, the major players in the sector were sought after, such as ExxonMobil (+3.10%), Chevron (+2.74%) or EOG Resources (+5 .37%), major company in the extraction of oil and shale gas.
On Wednesday, the US Minister of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, called on US companies to produce more to relieve the market which is very tight due to the drop in Russian exports.
By extension, raw materials processing companies, such as the steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs (+7.00%) or the fertilizer manufacturer Mosaic (+7.74%), also have the wind at their backs.
Investors, on the other hand, fled Chinese stocks listed on Wall Street.
Five Chinese companies have been ordered to comply with accounting obligations by US authorities, failing which they risk delisting.
This is particularly the case of Yum China (-10.94% to 44.36 dollars), which controls the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in China.
Toronto on the rise
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed higher on Thursday, buoyed by resource-related sectors, as U.S. markets were dragged down by news that inflation hit a new 40-year high last month, while talks between Russia and Ukraine were showing no signs of progress.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 88.47 points to end the day with 21,581.70 points.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at an average rate of 78.27 cents US, up from 78.00 cents US the previous day.
The price of gold advanced US$12.20 to US$2,000.40 an ounce and copper rose 8 cents US to US$4.65 a pound.
The Canadian Press