(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Friday, relieved by an inflation indicator that was less bad than expected and by the results of Microsoft and Alphabet, which contrasted with the disappointment of Meta.
The Dow Jones gained 0.40%, the NASDAQ index gained 2.03% and the broader S&P 500 index gained 1.02%.
“The main pulling force was provided by the results of the technology sector,” commented Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “The nervousness that Meta had caused the day before has dissipated. »
Alphabet (+9.97%) and Microsoft (+1.82%) published sparkling accounts on Thursday after the market, showing strong growth in all their activities.
In the opinion of analysts, unlike Meta or Amazon, the two other ogres of artificial intelligence (AI), the group from Mountain View (California) and its rival from Redmond (Washington State) already offer variations clear AI on their flagship products.
Not to spoil anything, Alphabet announced the distribution of the first dividend in its history, which allowed it to go through the session on foot.
On Wednesday, Meta upset the New York market by announcing forecasts below expectations for the quarter and investment spending above expectations.
Inspired by Alphabet and Microsoft, most of the NASDAQ giant caps have returned to pulling Wall Street, as they have done for much of the past 18 months.
Manhandled over the past two weeks, AI champion Nvidia has reared up (+6.18%), as has its competitor Broadcom (+3.84%) and Amazon (+3.43%), which will publish , him, Tuesday.
In addition to the tech boost, “there was also a bit of relief” after the release of the PCE consumer price index, according to which inflation reached 0.3% month-on-month in March, in line with expectations, unchanged from the previous month, according to Steve Sosnick.
Excluding food and energy, the index, closely followed by the American central bank (Fed), also came out at 0.3%, again in line with economists’ predictions.
The market focused on one-month progress and paid little attention to one-year inflation, which reached 2.7%, higher than the 2.6% predicted by economists.
Even if the evolution of prices remains faster than the Fed would like, “the figure was enough to calm the nervousness a little”, particularly in the bond market, according to Steve Sosnick.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds thus eased, to 4.66%, compared to 4.70% the day before at closing.
Despite Friday’s surge, Steve Sosnick expects the market to continue to react on a day-to-day basis, without imprinting a clear trend on the indices.
Wall Street is preparing for a busy week, with the Fed meeting (Tuesday and Wednesday), the employment report (Friday) and new publications from companies, including Amazon (Tuesday) and Apple (Thursday).
On the stock market, the American semiconductor manufacturer Intel went against the trend of the sector (-9.20%) after a net loss in the first quarter, accompanied by forecasts for the current period which made the market bristle.
ExxonMobil was penalized (-2.78%) for its net profit below expectations, due in particular to lower margins on refined products and inventory adjustments.
Its competitor, Chevron, did better (+0.37%), although it also suffered from a tightening of refining margins and depressed natural gas prices, with, again, a disappointment in quarterly profit. .
Snap, parent company of the social network Snapchat, was catapulted (+27.63%), after favorably surprising its results. The group saw its revenue per user increase and the number of subscribers to its paid offer jump.