The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Friday, with all three major Wall Street indices at their year-end lows, a grim conclusion to a September marked by fears of a tightening-led recession. harsh currency.
The Dow Jones fell 1.7% and closed at its lowest end-of-trading level since early November 2020, at 28,725.51 points. The Nasdaq index lost 1.5%, to its lowest closing since July 2020, at 10,575.61 points, and the broader S&P 500 index fell 1.5%, to 3,585.62 points.
“Septembers are often bad for stocks,” said Christopher Vecchio of DailyFX. “Since mid-August, the movement has been unidirectional, downward, except for a rebound on hopes of a reversal by the Fed [banque centrale américaine] “, which was quickly showered, recalled Edward Moya, of Oanda.
The freezing temperature that had already reigned in the markets for several weeks fell further on Friday with the publication of the PCE price index (Personal Consumption Expenditure Index), the most followed by the Fed.
It emerged up 0.3% over one month in August, more than the 0.2% expected by analysts. Over one year, inflation reached 6.2%, more than the 6% forecast, but less than the previous month (6.4%). “This report echoed the CPI index [Indice des prix à la consommation, ou IPC en français] “, Another major price index published in mid-September, “and reinforces the energetic posture of the Fed”, estimated Sam Millette, of Commonwealth Financial Network.
Bond yields rose slightly, one more reason to justify the anxiety of investors, who have seen them rise inexorably for several weeks. The yield on 10-year US government bonds came in at 3.81%, down from 3.78% the previous day.
However, investors noted that the inflation expectations of consumers surveyed by the University of Michigan for its monthly report showed a slowdown. They are now counting on annual inflation of 2.7% within 5 to 10 years, the lowest since April 2021. Matthew Martin, of Oxford Economics, also noted from this survey that “consumer pessimism [restait] at a historic level” in terms of the trajectory of economic activity over the medium term.
“The problem for the market today is that the Fed doesn’t look like it’s ready to stop anytime soon, but also that all these other risks have been brought to the fore,” said Christopher Vecchio, who was referring to the intervention of the Bank of England on Wednesday to try to stabilize the British bond market.
Therefore, “people will probably feel uncomfortable about holding risky or long-term assets in the near future”, according to the analyst.
A setback in Toronto
In Toronto, Bay Street let slip the gains made earlier in the session to close on a tiny rise.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 2.38 points to end the day at 18,444.22 points. Over the whole of the third quarter, however, it cumulates a decline – the second in a row.
With The Canadian Press