Wall Street ends the week on the rise

(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Friday, citing the high number of job creations in the United States in March as the insolent health of the American economy rather than the possible consequences on monetary policy. .

The Dow Jones gained 0.80%, the NASDAQ index gained 1.24% and the broader S&P 500 index climbed 1.11%.

The American economy created 303,000 jobs in March, according to the Department of Labor, significantly more than the 200,000 expected by economists. This is the highest figure since May 2023.

This figure shook up the bond market. The yield on 10-year US government bonds approached 4.40%, compared to 4.30% the day before.

“The labor market remains strong and the American economy continues to create jobs at a sustained pace,” commented Rubeela Farooqi, analyst at High Frequency Economics, in a note.

“High employment growth and the drop in the unemployment rate (from 3.9% to 3.8%) could encourage the Fed (American central bank) to review its assumptions for rate cuts in 2024,” a- she added.

The prospect of the Fed remaining firm for longer is theoretically unfavorable for stocks, but Wall Street is nonetheless resolutely in the green.

“Part of this move was a catch-up after the previous day’s drop,” argued Interactive Brokers analyst Steve Sosnick. But he also sees it as a sign that the market is “finally saying that it is perhaps better to worry about the economy than to know how many rate cuts we will have” this year.

Furthermore, other analysts noted that the average salary had only increased by 0.3% over one month, in line with what economists predicted, but also that the labor market participation rate had increased.

“The Fed does not need to see the labor market weaken to start lowering rates,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, an analyst at Oxford Economics, in a note.

“It will be guided more by the progression of wages and inflation, which we believe will slow down in the months to come,” she continued.

This wind of optimism carried the giant capitalizations of the technology sector, in particular Meta, Amazon and Nvidia.

Boosted by the surge in oil prices, to their highest level in five months, ExxonMobil (+1.38%) set a new record on Friday.

ConocoPhillips (+1.34%) and Occidental Petroleum (+2.40%) also performed.

In orbit since the split on Tuesday, with its subsidiary dedicated to energy, GE Vernova, the former giant of American capitalism General Electric gained another 6.05% on Friday. It has gained nearly 15% since Tuesday.

The specialist in cardiovascular disease prevention equipment Shockwave Medical gained 1.98% after the announcement of its upcoming acquisition by Johnson & Johnson (-0.01%), for approximately $13.1 billion.

Conversely, semiconductor veteran Intel lost another 2.57%, after revealing on Wednesday a colossal loss in its foundry business, which manufactures chips designed by others. The value is at its lowest level in almost six months.

CNBC reported that the Skydance Media studio did not intend to make an offer for the entire capital of Paramount Global (-3.23%), but only take a significant stake, while a merger between the two entities is mentioned since Wednesday.

Target of speculators, the media group Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) took another shine (-12.05%).

The stock has lost almost half (-48%) of its value since its peak last week, reducing by several billion dollars the windfall that Donald Trump could recover if he sold his shares.

Tesla went into reverse (-3.63%), after Reuters reported that the automaker had given up on producing a new model at a more affordable price. An assertion contested by the group’s boss, Elon Musk, on the social network X.