(New York) The New York Stock Exchange concluded the penultimate session of the year on Thursday in a disorganized manner, with the Dow Jones reaching a new record, while the S&P 500 is also trying to approach a historic high .
The Dow Jones index gained 0.14%, reaching a new high of 37,710.10 points after the previous day. The S&P 500 gained 0.04%, to 4783.35 points, not far from its January 2022 record, at 4796.56 points. The technology-dominated NASDAQ lost 0.03%, closing at 15,095.14 points.
All three indexes are on track to finish a ninth straight week in positive territory.
“These last two months have been truly spectacular,” Steve Sosnick, analyst at Interactive Brokers, commented to AFP.
“The ability of markets to prosper while, at the same time, central banks have increased interest rates and applied restrictive monetary policies is truly astonishing,” said this analyst, referring to the very positive trajectory at the end of this year. year for New York indices.
For Schwab analysts, “hopes for a change in direction from the Federal Reserve (Fed) towards lower interest rates next year and signs of a slowdown in inflation in the United States have put the market in a holiday mood for two months now.
On Thursday, bond yields tightened a bit, slowing stocks. The yield on 2-year bonds, which had fallen sharply on Wednesday, was up to 4.27%, up from 4.24% the day before, and the yield on 10-year bills also rose to 3.84%, up from 3. 79%.
In a week lacking economic data, investors learned that weekly jobless claims rose for the second week in a row in the United States.
They increased by 12,000 to 218,000, more than expected but without signaling a major impact on the unemployment rate.
“The main takeaway from the report is that it is not going to shake up the market perception that the labor market remains in good shape overall,” noted Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
“This means that the level of unemployment benefit claims is not yet seen as a threat to the soft landing hypothesis” of the economy, he added.
The Labor Department will release official employment numbers for December late next week.
On the value side, Boeing, heavyweight of the Dow Jones, fell 0.67% to $260.35.
The aircraft manufacturer has asked airlines that own the 737 MAX, its flagship plane, to carry out checks because of a risk of a “loose bolt” on the rudder control system, the American Aviation Agency announced. civil aviation (FAA).
Altice-USA, a subsidiary of the highly indebted French cable operator and telecommunications group Altice, saw its shares climb 6.56% to $3.25.
Altice-USA has sold the Cheddar News news wire to Archetype, a media company that includes Military Times, Defense News and HistoryNet, according to a Cheddar News release. The amount of the sale was not disclosed.
Furthermore, press reports have mentioned an interest from French billionaire Xavier Niel (Iliad technology group) in the Portuguese subsidiary of Altice, Patrick Drahi’s group.
The securities listed on Wall Street of Chinese internet and online gaming giants have suffered in recent sessions following new regulations issued by the authorities.
This week, around a hundred video games were finally authorized for distribution in China and the authorities indicated that they would review the first version of their regulations. NetEase thus rebounded (+1.91% to $89.30). Tencent, another Chinese internet heavyweight, also gained ground (+2.13%).
Very erratic, Tesla shares, positive at the start of the session, ended down 3.16%.