(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Thursday, triumphing over the summer torpor and a market in the process of digestion, in a market that is generally confident in the health of the American economy.
Updated yesterday at 5:38 p.m.
The Dow Jones gained 0.06% to 33,999.04 points, the tech-heavy NASDAQ index gained 0.21% to 12,965.34 points and the broader S&P 500 index gained 0. .24%, 4283.74 points.
Starting in the red at the start of the session, the indices managed to end in the green, without euphoria, almost all the values of the Dow Jones evolving in a range below 1%.
Investors were favorably influenced by two new positive surprises in the macroeconomic sphere, with new weekly jobless claims significantly below expectations, and the Philadelphia region’s industrial activity index, positive in August when economists anticipated a third negative month in a row.
These encouraging figures are in line with industrial production and retail sales which, earlier this week, also rained. They “leave the possibility to the Fed (American central bank) to continue its proactive tightening until the end of the year”, argued, in a note, Edward Moya, of Oanda.
The Toronto Stock Exchange also closed higher, outpacing US markets on a rally in oil that led to gains in the Canadian energy sector.
The Toronto floor’s S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 83.93 points to 20,265.37 points. The energy-heavy index benefited from a second day of rising oil prices, with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate trading again above US$90 a barrel after falling earlier in the week.
Oil rose on the back of a favorable U.S. inventories report that is helping ease fears of a potential economic slowdown and its impact on energy demand, according to Fiera Capital portfolio manager Candice Bangsund.
The new Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham Al Gais, said on Thursday that spare production capacity was “becoming scarce” and that he expected demand to increase by nearly three million barrels. per day this year, which also boosted the markets.
On an individual stock basis, some of the biggest gainers were Athabasca Oil Corp., which rose more than 9% on the day, and Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd., up more than 6%.
“The energy sector was the best performing sector today and far exceeded (expectations)”, analyzes Mme Bangsund, noting that the capped S&P/TSX energy index was up 2.66% by the end of the day.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar was trading at 77.35 cents US, down from its average price of 77.45 cents US the previous day.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, crude oil rose US$2.42 to US$90.05 a barrel, while natural gas fell 6 cents to US$9.19 a million. of BTUs.
The price of gold fell by US$5.50 to US$1771.20 an ounce and that of copper rose by 5 cents US to US$3.63 per pound.
A real estate recession
The macroeconomic picture was somewhat tarnished by home resales, which followed a sixth consecutive month of decline in July. According to Lawrence Yun, of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), “we are witnessing a recession in the American real estate market”.
After four hesitant sessions, the S&P 500 is almost at the same level as Friday.
“Sometimes, when the market has had a good run, which has been the case for six weeks, it is not a tragedy if we have sessions, or even weeks, in sawtooth, and that is what is happening this week,” argued Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
“Equities will probably look for direction during the rest of the summer,” even estimated Edward Moya.
The session was led by the IT infrastructure and components sector, thanks to Cisco (+5.81% to 49.37 dollars), specialist in networks, cloud computing and cybersecurity, boosted by the publication, Wednesday after Stock market, results above expectations.
Another catalyst, the American semiconductor specialist Wolfspeed (+31.86% to 112.94 dollars), whose results exceeded forecasts.
Sector heavyweights, from Qualcomm (+1.92%) to Micron (+2.21%), took the aspiration, even if the industry expects a brake in the coming months, due to a drop in demand for electronic devices.
Another family at the party, the oil companies, hoisted by American demand and the rebound in black gold prices, such as ExxonMobil (+2.36%), ConocoPhillips (+3.47%) and Marathon Oil (+5, 08%).
Among the few other values hailed by investors, there was also Tapestry (+ 1.24% to 37.57 dollars), the company which brings together the ready-to-wear brands Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, whose quarterly profit came out very slightly above forecast.
The cosmetics group Estée Lauder (+ 1.84% to 281.62 dollars) capitalized on results above expectations, which prevailed, in the eyes of Wall Street, on its forecasts deemed disappointing for its entire financial year. .
The department store chain Kohl’s was sanctioned (-7.72% to 31.33 dollars), after having cut its sales forecasts (now expected to fall) and margins on its entire financial year 2022 (which ends at the end of January).
The days go by and are not alike for the “same stocks”, these actions propelled by enthusiastic small shareholders, often unrelated to the fundamentals of listed companies.
After gaining 135% in just over a week, homeware chain Bed Bath & Beyond dropped nearly 20% on Thursday. The investor Ryan Cohen has, in fact, announced the sale of all of its shares in the group, ie more than 10% of the capital.