(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Thursday, in an increasingly calm climate after the banking crisis, even if investors are wary of any euphoria.
The Dow Jones gained 0.43% and the NASDAQ index gained 0.73%, while the S&P 500 index rose 0.57%, its fifth positive session in six trading days.
“We see calm returning to the market, as fears of banking contagion begin to fade into the background,” commented Angelo Kourkafas, analyst at Edward Jones.
The end of the unrest is particularly visible on the bond market, which has resumed its moderate daily movements after three turbulent weeks.
The yield on 2-year US government bonds, one of the most volatile during the crisis, stood at 4.10%, against 4.09% the day before closing.
“The market remains driven by the technology sector and growth stocks which are benefiting from lower bond rates and expectations of an imminent end to monetary tightening by the Fed” (US central bank), explained Angelo Kourkafas.
Following positive comments from Micron, which sees a better match between supply and demand for electronic chips, semiconductor manufacturers were again at the party. Rivals Intel (+1.81%), Qualcomm (+1.85%) and AMD (+1.86%) all advanced in similar proportions.
They were accompanied by several giant capitalizations, also technological, such as Microsoft (+1.26%), Amazon (+1.75%) or Nvidia (+1.48%).
However, “uncertainties remain”, warns Angelo Kourkafas, in particular as regards the possible consequences of the banking tension on the real economy.
Anxiety has not gone away on Wall Street, even though the VIX index, which measures market volatility, fell Thursday to its lowest level since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in early March.
Several regional banks, very scrutinized in recent weeks, have taken a shine, like the Californian First Republic (-4.00%) and Pacwest (-4.36%), or Valley National (-3.63% ), parent company of the Valley Bank network, headquartered in New Jersey.
Subject to unexplained speculative positions, the small New York regional establishment Metropolitan Bank unscrewed (-27.58%), despite the absence of news concerning the bank.
Still, in the financial sector, asset manager Charles Schwab fell (-4.96%) after a lowering of the recommendation by Morgan Stanley analysts, who are worried about the group’s results, subject to significant withdrawals.
Manchester United advanced (+1.96%), after reporting a quarterly net profit (compared to a net loss for the same period of 2021), largely due to technical effects, with turnover falling by nearly 10% over one year.
The Chinese online trading platform JD.com was welcomed (+7.82%) after the announcement of a plan to list two of its subsidiaries on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Toronto ends the day with a gain
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed Thursday with a gain of more than 100 points thanks to widespread increases fueled by the base metals sector, while the major American indices also rose.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 103.34 points to end the day at 19,940.99 points.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at an average rate of 73.89 cents US, up from 73.66 cents US on Wednesday.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, crude oil prices rose US$1.40 to US$74.37 a barrel, while natural gas fell US$8 cents to US$2.10 a barrel. million BTUs.
The price of gold rose US$13.20 to US$1,997.70 an ounce and that of copper fell US0.5 cents to US$4.09 a pound.
The Canadian Press