(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended in disarray on Monday in the face of the jump in oil prices, which did not, however, arouse a panic reaction on the stock and bond markets.
The Dow Jones index ended up 0.98% at 33,601.15 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.37% at 4124.51 points while the tech-heavy NASDAQ fell by 0.27% to 12,189.45 points.
Oil prices rose by some 6.30% for a barrel of Brent as for Texas oil WTI after the surprise announcement on Sunday by eight of the 23 OPEC + countries – including Saudi Arabia -, of a reduction , from the month of May, of their production.
The decline will exceed one million barrels per day (bpd), the largest reduction since October.
“We had a risk event this weekend and it was not the banks this time but OPEC”, summed up Karl Haeling of LBBW.
More expensive oil apparently complicates the task of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) which has drastically raised interest rates to curb inflation which remains stubborn.
The White House took little notice of the announcement from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Algeria and Iraq.
“It is not appropriate to reduce production at this time given the uncertainties of the market,” said a spokesman for the National Security Council of the White House.
But overall, the markets reacted “fairly calmly”, judged Karl Healing. “There was already a feeling that OPEC wouldn’t have cut production if it weren’t for the worry of slowing demand and falling crude prices,” he told Reuters. the AFP.
During the morning, the ISM indicator of manufacturing activity in the United States confirmed presumptions of a slowdown to come. At 46.3%, the index fell to the lowest since May 2020.
“As soon as the ISM was released, there was a perception that lower OPEC production was going to be more than offset, in terms of price action, by lower demand and a weaker economy. world,” commented the analyst.
Thus, despite the rise in oil prices, which could raise fears of more inflation, yields on Treasury bills eased: 3.40% instead of 3.46% on Friday for ten-year bills years around 4 p.m. Those at two slipped below 4% to 3.96%.
Likewise the NASDAQ, which was losing more before the release of the ISM, recovered some ground while the rise of the Dow Jones solidified.
On the stock market, oil stocks took advantage of the situation. The energy sector (+4.91%) led all seven of the 11 S&P sectors that finished in the green.
Oil services groups pranced in the lead like Halliburton (+7.76%) or Schlumberger (+6.59%). ConocoPhilips soared 9.29%. Exxon Mobil gained 5.89% and Chevron 4.16%.
Sensitive to the rise in fuel prices, the travel sector suffered the blow, like Expedia (-2.02%), Airbnb (-2.36%) or airlines such as United Airlines (-2 .03%) or American Airlines (-2.24%).
The American competition authority, the FTC, has vetoed the merger of the biotechnology company Illumina (-1.09%) with the developer of cancer tests Grail.
This merger, valued at 7 billion dollars, which the FTC had already opposed for reasons of respect for competition, had subsequently been authorized by an American administrative judge. The FTC finally had the final say.
Tesla shares slid 6.12% despite an increase in the number of its vehicles delivered in the first quarter, an improvement mainly thanks to price cuts by the electric carmaker.
In the ring, the professional wrestling line WWC (World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE) suffered badly (-2.15%) from its announced merger with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
The entertainment juggernaut Endeavor (-5.81%), owner of the UFC, will hold the majority in the new entity which will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the second half. It is valued at over $21 billion.