(New York) The New York Stock Exchange opened in the red on Thursday, between a moderate rise in wholesale prices, disappointing results for Disney and new concerns about US regional banks.
The Dow Jones index yielded 1.10%, the NASDAQ fell 0.17% and the broader S&P 500 index dropped 0.58%, around 10 a.m. (Eastern time).
Producer prices in April rose again, but less sharply than expected (+0.2% over the month against -0.4% in March). Over one year, the slowdown in producer prices continued, to 2.3% against 2.7% in March.
This increase in wholesale prices “weaker than expected reinforces the optimistic sentiment of the market […]. This will help to better control general inflation,” said Will Compernolle of FHN Financial.
The bond market reacted with a marked easing on Treasury bond yields, which fell from 3.90% to 3.82% for short two-year rates and from 3.44% to 3.36% for those at ten. years.
In other macro news, weekly jobless claims rose by 22,000 to the highest since October, at 264,000.
For Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics, this increase was a welcome sign of cooling in the labor market, and therefore in inflation over time. “This will allow the Fed’s Monetary Committee to refrain from raising rates in June,” which is what the stock market is hoping for.
On the stock market, regional banks once again worried investors, especially PacWest, which fell by more than 28%. It has already been suspended from trading twice for volatility on the NASDAQ since the market opened.
Zions Bancorporation lost 1%, Fifth Third Bancorp -2.87% and Comerica Incorporated -2%.
Los Angeles-based PacWest said many customers withdrew deposits in early May and it had more borrowing capacity from the central bank.
Fifty-third US bank by asset size, Pacwest is now seen as the new weak link in the system. In March SVB and Signature Bank went bankrupt and earlier this month First Republic was taken over by JPMorgan Chase.
Over the past week, PacWest deposits have shrunk 9.5%, after already falling 17% in the first quarter.
Disney was beating the Dow Jones, falling more than 8% to $93, its lowest level in almost two months.
The entertainment group recorded better-than-expected first-quarter revenue, but suffered from an unexpected drop in the number of subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service.
In the first three months of the year, Disney lost four million Disney+ subscribers net, down to 157.8 million at the end of the period, while analysts saw their number increase, beyond 163 million. . This is the second quarter of decline for subscribers to Disney +.
Brokerage app Robinhood climbed 6.89% to $9.69 after reporting quarterly revenue that beat expectations. The app also introduced the ability to trade the markets 24 hours a day, five days a week.
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