(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended on a mixed note on Friday, hesitating between good corporate results and the robustness of the American economy on the one hand, and fears of a muscular monetary tightening on the other. .
Updated yesterday at 5:15 p.m.
The Dow Jones fell 0.06% to 35,089.74 points, the NASDAQ index, in which technology companies are strongly represented, gained 1.58% to 14,098.00 points, and the broader S&P index 500, 0.52%, at 4500.53 points.
The session will have seen back and forth between red and green, the Dow Jones finally falling back while it was still up less than ten minutes from the close.
In the end, the three major Wall Street indices ended the week on the rise, for the first time in 2022, noted Art Hogan, of National Securities.
The debates seemed misguided at the start of the day, with investors having trouble digesting the publication of the monthly employment report, which reported 467,000 jobs created in January, more than triple what economists predicted (150,000 ).
In addition, the December figure received a major revision, dropping from 199,000 creations to 510,000.
“For the markets, the jobs report is especially for the Fed,” said Barry Gilbert, in charge of allocation strategy at LPL Financial. “And today’s upside surprise on both job creation and average hourly wage growth (5.7% YoY vs. 4.9% in December) keeps the Fed on track.” a first rate hike in March and four or five hikes this year. »
At the end of the employment report, nearly 40% of operators even expected a 50 basis point increase in the Fed’s key rate from March (0.5 percentage point), while they did not were only 2% a month ago. The US central bank is indeed accustomed to increases of a quarter of a point each time.
The bond market went up after the release of the report. The rate of 10-year US government bonds rose to 1.93% for the first time in 25 months, against 1.83% the day before.
For Art Hogan, “all week, it was a tug of war between fears related to the Fed and the realization that the macroeconomic data and the results of companies were better than what had been anticipated by the market”.
The fact that the week ended on the upside shows that investors are “focusing more on the positive news rather than the fear of how aggressive the Fed is going to be” in its monetary tightening.
This feeling could nevertheless evolve, recognizes the analyst, in particular according to the consumer price index CPI, expected next Thursday, and which will provide information on a possible deceleration of inflation in the United States.
On the stock market, Meta (Facebook) did not benefit from a rebound, after being the victim on Thursday of the largest capitalization loss in history (more than 230 billion dollars flew away).
After Friday’s further decline (-0.28% to $237.09), the stock fell to its lowest level since July 2020.
Also targeted on Thursday, Amazon soared (+13.54% to 3152.79 dollars), hailed for its better than expected results.
Wall Street did not hold it against the compression of its margins, linked to supply difficulties and the increase in labor costs.
Cut off Thursday (-23.60%), Snap was put into orbit (+58.82% to 38.91 dollars), the day after the publication of its first quarter profit.
The parent company of Snapchat reported continued strong growth in its users, which contrasted with the slowdown of Meta (Facebook).
In difficulty in the third quarter after the update of the operating system of the Apple iPhone (iOS), which limits the collection of personal data, Snap indicated Thursday that its advertising turnover had suffered less at the end of 2021 .
Another social network, Pinterest, also had a great day (+11.18% to 27.25 dollars), after publishing better than expected results on Thursday. The platform saw the number of its monthly active users fall by 6% year-on-year, but generated a significantly higher revenue per user (+23%).
Despite a turnover up more than 32% in the fourth quarter, Ford was sanctioned (-9.70% to 17.96 dollars) for its profit below expectations.
Toronto Stock Exchange closes higher
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed higher on Friday, supported by a broad-based rally led by the information technology sector and a rise in crude oil prices, which allowed it to record its best week in a year.
The Toronto floor’s S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 177.84 points to end the session with 21,271.85 points.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at an average rate of 78.38 US cents, down from 78.87 US cents the previous day.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, crude oil prices climbed US$2.04 to US$92.31 a barrel, while natural gas plunged 31.6 cents US to $4.57 US per million BTU.
The price of gold rose US$3.70 to US$1807.80 an ounce and that of copper rose 1.65 cents US to US$4.49 a pound.
The Canadian Press