(New York) The New York Stock Exchange concluded Friday slightly in the green a week rich in technological results and macro-economic news before a meeting of the Fed next week.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.80% to 34,098.16 points and the S&P 500 0.83% to 4169.48 points while the tech-heavy NASDAQ advanced 0.69% to 12,226.58 points.
The index of star stocks thus posted its best month since January (+2.5%).
Undecided at the start of the session, the indices finally opted for green during this last trading day of April, despite a negative reaction to the results of the Amazon megacap (-3.98%). The decline in its turnover in the cloud (remote computing) has cooled brokers.
This did not prevent the NASDAQ from concluding in the positive for the third consecutive session and gaining 1.5% over the week, thanks to the good quarterly results of Meta (+0.74%), Microsoft (+0.80 %), Alphabet (-0.14%).
Intel soared 4.02% despite another quarterly loss, though not as bad as expected.
“Overall results have impressed this week, with the technology sector leading the charge,” said Edward Moya, analyst for Oanda.
For Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com, “it was a bit of a respite session with decent macro data.”
The Fed next week
On this front, and ahead of a crucial meeting of the US central bank next week, inflation, as measured by the PCE index favored by the Fed, has provided mixed indications.
Admittedly, it slowed to 4.2% over one year in March against 5.1% the month before, which is good news.
But core inflation (excluding energy and food) continued to rise over the month (+0.3% as in February) and only slowed by a tenth of a point over one year to 4.6% against 4, 7%.
“These data locked in expectations of a further Fed rate hike” at the May 2-3 meeting, Edward Moya concluded.
Banking nervousness played again. As a result, troubled bank First Republic’s stock plunged another 43% to $3.51 and its listing was suspended several times.
For Edward Moya, “it seems that hopes of a bank merger or a white knight are fading fast”.
Concomitantly, regulators such as the Fed and the FDIC published their reports on the bankruptcy of the SVB bank on Friday, acknowledging shortcomings in the effectiveness of their supervision.
Elsewhere on the stock exchange, Snap – parent company of the social network Snapchat – collapsed 17.05% to 8.71 dollars after posting a disappointing turnover in the first quarter, despite an increase in the number of users. daily users.
Exxon-Mobil gained 1.29% as the US oil and gas giant said it had doubled its profits in the first quarter despite lower oil prices compared to the same period in 2022.
Rival Chevron advanced 0.98% after its net profit rose on strong refining margins, but its overall quarterly revenue fell.
Ten-year bond rates eased a little to 3.42% versus 3.52% the previous day.
If most Western markets close on Monday for the 1er May, Wall Street will be open.
The Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed on Friday with a gain of more than 100 points, supported by the strength of the energy sector, while the major American indices also advanced, at the end of a week marked by volatility.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 113.90 points to end the day at 20,636.54 points.
Friday’s release of new gross domestic product (GDP) data helped justify keeping the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate unchanged, said Ashish Utarid, assistant vice president of investment strategy at IG Wealth Management.
The data showed that economic growth had slowed in Canada, with Statistics Canada reporting a 0.1% advance in February, compared to 0.6% in January.
Utarid said the Bank of Canada is still hoping for a scenario where inflation cools without sending the economy into recession.
“In Canada, we are in a better position because oil supports the economy and contributes to a positive economic outlook,” said Mr. Utarid. But interest rates are preventing the economy from continuing to grow, and the fight against inflation seems almost won. »
That scenario might be less likely in the United States, he continued, since US markets are more subject to volatile swings in major tech stocks.
A handful of large firms have been largely responsible for market moves so far this year, as well as last week, Utarid noted.
These companies are among those that released quarterly financial results this week as the U.S. earnings season was in full swing. Some of the biggest names in the industry have exceeded expectations.
Exxon Mobil and Intel both reported better-than-expected results on Friday, helping to offset Amazon’s stock price, which fell after the company reported slowing revenue growth from its AWS cloud business. .
Also in the United States, core inflation, which is closely monitored by the central bank, stood at 4.6% on an annual basis in March, a rate well above the target of 2.0% .
All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve next week, Utarid predicted. The U.S. central bank is expected to raise its key interest rate by another quarter of a percentage point, but its comments on its decision and the next ones will be of great interest to investors, he asserted.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at an average rate of 73.65 cents US, up from 73.46 cents US on Thursday.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, crude oil prices rose US$2.02 to US$76.78 a barrel, while natural gas rose 6 cents to US$2.41 a barrel. million BTUs.
The price of gold rose 10 cents US to US$1999.10 per ounce and that of copper rose 1 cent US to US$3.89 per pound.
The Canadian Press