(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply higher on Thursday after a wild session, which saw the indices initially plunge after an inflation indicator before rebounding vigorously.
Posted at 9:09
Updated at 4:27 p.m.
The Dow Jones gained 2.83%, the NASDAQ index gained 2.23% and the broader S&P 500 index gained 2.60%.
Wall Street had started the day with “a knee-jerk reaction” and unscrewed after the release of the US CPI consumer price index, said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones briefly fell to their lowest level in almost two years, while the NASDAQ brushed the symbolic threshold of 10,000 points, for the first time since July 2020.
The CPI came out up 0.4% month on month in September, more than the 0.3% expected by economists.
Over one year, inflation is 8.2%, lower than August’s 8.3% but higher than the forecast of 8.1%.
As for so-called underlying inflation, that is to say excluding food and energy, it reached its highest rate over one year for 40 years, at 6.6%.
“There is no irrefutable proof (that) inflation is approaching the target of 2%” per year, set by the American central bank (Fed) as a long-term objective, commented Edoardo Campanella, of UniCredit. , in a footnote.
“The Fed is now clearly forced to force (its monetary tightening), at the risk of penalizing the economy to maintain its credibility,” he added.
Operators have recalibrated their forecasts and now give a 68% probability of two further hikes of 0.75 percentage points each in the Fed’s key rate in November and December, compared to 7% just a week ago.
Investors even see the key rate at 84% going to a range of 4.75% to 5% at least by March 2023, an ultra-minority scenario a month ago.
After the publication of the CPI, bond yields, which move in the opposite direction to bond prices, soared.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds rose to 4.07% for the first time in 14 years and the 2-year rate reached 4.52%, a 15-year high.
But this blow of blood did not last and stocks and bonds quickly raised the head.
The rebound “underscores the fact that investors were positioned for an upside surprise” in the CPI, according to Edward Jones’ Angelo Kourkafas. “And the fact that we saw one caused the opposite reaction to what we might have expected. »
For Karl Haeling of LBBW, the fact that the VIX index, which measures investor nervousness and market volatility, did not rise much higher than the day before “was a sign that there was no panic. […] Investors already have such a defensive positioning…”
Thursday’s initial dip “established a short-term floor,” according to Angelo Kourkafas. “But to see a prolonged rebound, we would need a series of numbers showing that inflation is calming down. […] We are not there yet. »
All members of the Dow Jones finished in the green on Thursday. Financial stocks were particularly sought after, whether Goldman Sachs (+4.10%), JPMorgan Chase (+5.49%) or Visa (+3.58%).
In technology, the NASDAQ celebrated Apple (+3.36%) and Microsoft (3.76%), as well as the semiconductor sector, from Nvidia (+4.00%) to Intel ( +4.30%), via Qualcomm (+3.88%) and Micron (+4.00%).
Netflix (+5.27% to $232.51) made headlines after the formal presentation of its discounted subscription offer, with advertising. The platform has not communicated any forecasts but is counting on this new formula to boost its growth.
The pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance was sought after (+5.35% to 33.65 dollars), despite the announcement of an unexpected quarterly loss for its fourth accounting quarter (completed at the end of August). The market welcomed the increase in the group’s forecasts for its American health branch by 2025.
The airline Delta Air Lines (+ 3.97% to 30.37 dollars) has benefited from earnings forecasts well above expectations for the fourth quarter. General manager Ed Bastian said the recovery in attendance is continuing.
The take-out pizza chain Domino’s jumped (+10.48% to 333.38 dollars) after reporting quarterly sales slightly above expectations, despite net profit falling short of forecasts.