(New York) The New York Stock Exchange was mainly trading in the green on Thursday, reacting positively to generally satisfactory inflation figures in January in the United States while consumer health is maintained.
The Dow Jones fell 0.06%, but the technology-dominated NASDAQ climbed 0.65%, not far from a record, and the S&P 500 gained 0.28% around 10:30 a.m. (Eastern time). .
Wall Street was, however, preparing to open lower before the publication of inflation data from the Commerce Department.
The PCE inflation index, the favorite barometer of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) to set its monetary policy, advanced by 0.3% over the month in January compared to +0.1% the month before, nevertheless a slightly less than expected by the MarketWatch consensus.
Over twelve months, inflation continues to slow to 2.4% compared to 2.6% a month earlier.
The evolution of prices “is getting closer to the objective”, underlined Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for High Frequency Economics, not worried about this rebound over one month.
Rare surprise from this report, household income increased more than expected by 1% over the month, stimulated in fact by the increase in retirement benefits and income from assets. But the savings rate remains low at 3.8%.
Consumer spending weakened very slightly by 0.1%, a breath considered normal by analysts after the strong holiday season.
“Overall, the data indicates that the economy continues to grow and inflation is gradually falling,” added the HFE analyst.
For Michael Pearce of OxfordEconomics, “with this downward trend in inflation, a gradual decline in interest rates is still on the table this year” for the American central bank.
On the bond market, yields on ten-year Treasury bills, which were rising before the publication of the PCE index, fell to 4.22% compared to 4.26% the day before.
A first rate cut from the Fed is now expected for the June monetary meeting, by only a narrow majority, according to the CME Fedwatch tool, whereas until a few weeks ago, investors believed in a relaxation of monetary policy from next month.
On the value side, Snowflake shares fell by almost 20% while the cloud storage specialist certainly posted very good quarterly results, but its projections are not as optimistic as those of the market.
The group expects to post 22% sales growth in 2024, but analysts expected an expansion of 30%.
The big names in technology carried the NASDAQ, such as Amazon and Meta which gained 1%. The manufacturer of microprocessors for artificial intelligence Nvidia climbed 2.24%.
The electronics and household appliances chain Best Buy gained 5.5% while its sales in the fourth quarter slowed less than expected and the current year will at least show stabilization, according to management.
The group also announced an upcoming “restructuring initiative”, which should result in workforce reductions, a measure often welcomed by stock market investors.
WeightWatchers shares fell 22% to less than $3 per share as the company announced that its flagship shareholder, personality Oprah Winfrey, was leaving its board of directors and returning her stake to the health care firm. weightloss.