(New York) The New York Stock Exchange took a break on Tuesday after two straight records, ending a loose trading session in scattered order.
According to final results at the close, the Dow Jones index closed up 0.26% to 36,398.21 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ fell 0.56% to 15,781.72 points. The S&P 500, blowing after two consecutive highs, fluctuated before dropping 0.10%, to 4786.35 points.
After the strong previous sessions, “investors have remained cautiously optimistic about the rather positive news around the Omicron variant”, summarized analysts at Wells Fargo.
The weak market strength on Tuesday reflected a year-end session “with simply a lack of interest,” said Maris Ogg, of Tower Bridge Advisors.
“The decline of the NASDAQ is not very convincing. More than half of my screen is green, the other half is red. There is no dominant trend, ”observed the portfolio manager.
According to her, investors have already “made their judgment on Omicron and believe that its effect will not be significant on the economy.”
“A study estimated that the effect of the Delta variant slowdown cost US GDP 1%; I think for Omicron it will be a lot less, ”she continued.
Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, also noted Peter Cardillo, of Spartan Capital, “there are position adjustments for the end-of-year accounts which explain the divergent evolution of the indices”.
The amplitude of the movements is also increased by the low volume of trade at this time of the year.
“I think it was just a break, not a change of heart,” added the analyst.
The shares of airlines, which have been roughed up since the appearance of the Omicron variant, have recovered, like those of Delta Air Lines (+ 1.62%), American Airlines (+ 2.04% ) or United Airlines (+ 1.55%).
Cruise lines remained on the decline, such as Norwegian Cruise Line (- 1.04%) or Carnival (- 0.24%).
Stocks of vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna fell more than 2%.
Apple fell 0.58% to US $ 179.29, missing the moment investors watched when the iPhone maker would hit $ 3 trillion in capitalization.
For Apple to be the first company to reach this sum, its stock must trade at US $ 182.86, for the same volume of shares.
NASDAQ heavyweights Google (Alphabet) was down 1.09% to US $ 2,928.96, while Facebook (Meta) was flat.
Of the 11 S&P sectors, 7 remained in the green, led by utilities (+ 0.93%), consumer products (+ 0.63%) and materials (+ 0.56 %). Information technology (- 0.59%) and communication services (- 0.29%) lagged behind.
The distribution sector continued its momentum, confident about the dynamism of American consumption, like Walmart (+ 1.44%), Macy’s department stores (+ 0.93%) or the chain of Best Buy electronics (+ 0.44%).
In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasuries edged up slightly to 1.48%, from 1.47% the day before.