(New York) The New York Stock Exchange was down on Thursday despite an inflation figure that confirms a lull in prices in the United States, an indicator in line with expectations that had already been widely priced in by investors.
Around 9:50 a.m. (Eastern time), the Dow Jones yielded 0.42%, the NASDAQ index dropped 0.83% and the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.56%.
The CPI price index came out down 0.1% over one month in December, as expected. Over one year, the pace of inflation slowed to 6.5%, as also expected, against 7.1% the previous month.
Inflation over one year “remains high, well above the 2% target, but prices are moving in the right direction”, reacted, in a note, Rubeela Farooqi, of High Frequency Economics.
For members of the US central bank (Fed), “this further deceleration in inflation is a positive development that could encourage a slowdown in rate hikes in February”, at the next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, a- she added.
“However”, according to the economist, “central bankers still have work to do to bring inflation back on target and should continue to raise rates to a sufficiently restrictive level”, i.e. is holding back the US economy.
The bond market interpreted the CPI index much more optimistically and rates eased significantly. The yield on 10-year government bonds fell to 3.45%, its lowest level for a month, against 3.53 the day before.
As for the equity market, its indices opened in the green, before quickly turning around and going into negative.
“The market had risen a lot in recent days,” said Chris Zaccarelli of the Independent Advisor Alliance. “The essentials were already integrated. »
Operators were taking profits on the hottest stocks in recent days, especially in the technology sector, in particular Alphabet (-1.46%), semiconductor manufacturers Intel (-0.65%) or AMD (-2.06%), and more exotic values such as the AMC cinema chain (-0.91%) and the GameStop video game store chain (-3.15%).
“It will take time for the market to digest this data,” explained Gina Bolvin, of Bolving Wealth Management. “Right now, he looks a little disoriented. »
The manager also noted that taken by a positive atmosphere, some traders had begun to hope for a good surprise from the CPI. “They are disappointed,” she commented.
“I think we’re going to have a mixed session today,” warned Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital, although “the decline in rates and the dollar is boosting market enthusiasm. »
On the rating, Disney was sought (+ 1.35% to 97.63 dollars), the day after the communication of the board of directors, which said it was opposed to the appointment of investor Nelson Peltz as director. His investment company, Trian Fund Management, has recently taken a stake and is campaigning for short-term measures, in particular cost reduction.
Airlines were gaining ground again, unaffected by the computer failure that paralyzed air traffic for about an hour and a half in the United States on Wednesday. American Airlines (+5.15%) and United Airlines (+4.36%) were at the forefront.
The steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs (+4.52%) overdone the recent rise in the price of steel, in tune with all raw materials for several days.
They were accompanied by oil companies, from ExxonMobil (+0.75%) to Chevron (+0.90%), via Phillips 66 (+1.17%).