(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Wednesday, on a well-disposed market, which remained favorably oriented and was not unduly moved by the nuanced communication from the semiconductor giant Nvidia.
The Dow Jones gained 0.53%, the NASDAQ index gained 0.46% and the broader S&P 500 index gained 0.41%.
“When there’s not a lot of volume and not a lot of information either, the safest thing to do is to expect the market to go up. And that’s what happened,” commented Interactive Brokers analyst Steve Sosnick.
Many operators were missing on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, which limited trade.
“The market is going up right now and it wanted to go up today,” said Steve Sosnick. “And while the news from Nvidia wasn’t enough to move the stock forward, it was deemed good enough for the place to move forward, as a whole. »
The manufacturer of graphics cards, essential for the creation of interfaces such as the generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform ChatGPT, again largely exceeded market projections during its third financial quarter and published forecasts well above those of analysts for the current period.
For Derren Nathan, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, investors are “taking a break” on Nvidia (-2.46%), the time to understand the consequences for the company of the new export restrictions to China imposed by the American government.
On Tuesday, during the conference call to present the results, Nvidia’s financial director, Colette Kress, admitted that these restrictions would have “a negative effect” on the group’s turnover in China, while affirming that it would be “more than offset by strong growth in other regions.”
“If (Nvidia’s) results had been in line with expectations, the stock would have really had a very bad day,” Steve Sosnick put things into perspective. Nvidia shares rose 25% between the end of October and Monday.
For this analyst, Wall Street was also encouraged by another flagship AI stock, Microsoft (+1.28%), in the green after the announcement, overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, of the return of Sam Altman at the head of OpenAI.
The Redmond (Washington State) firm owns 49% of the creator of the ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence interface.
Other stocks whose activity is closely linked to artificial intelligence were sought after, such as C3 AI (+1.02%), a software publisher integrating AI, or Meta (+1.34%), which developed its own generative AI model.
The other big names in electronic chips, whether AMD (+2.82%) or Qualcomm (+0.38%), benefited from the decline of their rival.
Wall Street also benefited from an improvement on several fronts, with the stabilization of bond rates and the decline in oil prices.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 4.40%, compared to 4.39% the day before at closing.
On the stock market, the manufacturer of tractors and construction equipment Deere slipped (-3.11%), despite quarterly results well above expectations. The Moline (Illinois) group was sanctioned for its profit forecasts for its 2024 financial year, during which it anticipates a normalization of sales.
The Toronto Stock Exchange also on the rise
Canada’s main stock index posted a gain on Wednesday as losses in the energy sector weighed on the index, while U.S. markets advanced.
Toronto’s S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 3.99 points, or 0.02%, at 20,113.96 points.
“Today was a fairly quiet day and that’s not completely unexpected as we approach the Thanksgiving weekend in the United States,” said Kathrin Forrest, equity investment specialist. at Capital Group.
However, new economic data released in the United States on consumer inflation expectations and jobless claims helped depict continued uncertainty over rates, she said.
Investors continue to expect central banks to start cutting rates in the middle of next year, says Mme Forrest.
“There’s always noise about it and we’re definitely seeing volatility as we look a little further down the curve,” she observed.
“Rate volatility is something we continue to see. »
So far, November has been significantly more positive for stocks than October, thanks in part to a slowdown in long-term rates, Ms.me Forrest.
“US 10-year yields fell significantly during the month of November. And that tends to be helpful for markets in general,” she said.
The data released towards the end of October led market participants to have greater confidence in the possibility of a soft landing for the economy, she said.
In a speech Wednesday, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said rising rates eased price pressures across the economy. He added that inflation could not be fought timidly.
“What I remember most is that the Bank of Canada seeks to stay the course and continue to depend on data,” analyzed Mme Forrest.
Nvidia shares were down on Wednesday, even though the company reported strong earnings for the latest quarter.
Rising commercial crude oil inventories in the United States put downward pressure on oil on Wednesday, M notedme Forrest, amid broader uncertainty surrounding this product.
On the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at an average rate of 72.87 US cents, down from 73.00 US cents on Tuesday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of crude oil fell 67 US cents to US$77.10 per barrel, while that of natural gas gained 4 US cents to US$3.03 per million barrels. BTUs.
Gold prices fell US$8.80 to US$1,992.80 an ounce and copper prices fell 5 US cents to US$3.76 a pound.
Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press