Wall Street ends higher | Best week of the year for the S&P 500

(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended on a positive note Friday, giving the S&P 500 its best week of the year as the market rebounded from the turbulence earlier this month, while gold hit a new all-time high.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.24% to 40,659.76 points, the tech-heavy NASDAQ advanced 0.21% to 17,631.72 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.20% to 5,554.25 points.

“We’ve had some choppy movements over the last couple of weeks and the indices have come back from their lows,” commented Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.

At its lowest point, the NASDAQ fell 16% below its last peak in early August, following fears about the weakening of the American labor market and risks of recession.

“And now we are only 5% below that peak, which shows that there is still a lot of demand for stocks,” the analyst said.

Among the indicators, a household confidence index confirmed Friday the buoyancy of the American consumer in August, according to the University of Michigan. The index rose to 67.8 against 66.4 in July from 66.9 expected.

However, housing starts declined by 6.8% in July, showing that high interest rates on mortgages continue to weigh on demand.

Next week, eyes will turn to the central bankers’ meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which begins Thursday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is due to speak on Friday and markets are expecting him to provide clues about what the central bank will decide on September 18 in terms of rate cuts.

“Recent comments from Fed officials lead us to believe a 25 basis point cut will come next month,” said Will Compernole of FHN Financial.

According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, markets are 74.5% betting on a small quarter-point rate cut and 25.5% on a broader 50 basis point cut.

A week ago, 51% of investors were betting on a 50 basis point cut.

On the bond market, two-year rates, the most sensitive to those of the Fed, slipped to 4.04% against 4.09% the day before. The ten-year rate was at 3.87% against 3.91% the day before.

The dollar also made up the ground gained on Thursday after the jump in retail sales in the United States, which reassured consumers about their health.

Against the euro it fell by 0.46% to 1.1023 dollars per euro.

It was gold that benefited from a rush of investors looking for a safe bet as the prospects of Fed rate cuts became clearer.

The ounce reached a record high on Friday, exceeding $2,500 per ounce.

“The sharp decline in bond yields” and the dollar, “amid expectations of rate cuts from the Fed, is benefiting assets with zero or low yields,” such as gold, said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at City Index.

Of the eleven listed S&P 500 sectors, eight are in the green, led by banks (+0.62%) but also technology (+0.26%).

Pfizer laboratories fell by 1.43% on the stock market after, with its German partner BioNTech, they announced on Friday the failure of the last phase of clinical testing to develop a messenger RNA vaccine to combat influenza and COVID-19.

In detail, the candidate vaccine has not proven its effectiveness against type B influenza, which was nevertheless one of its main objectives.

Shares of semiconductor maker Applied Materials fell 1.86% even though the group posted a better-than-expected third quarter in terms of both sales, with revenue of $6.78 billion, and net income per share.