(New York) The New York Stock Exchange was trading in the green on Thursday, after a record for the Dow Jones and while the semiconductor sector was recovering from a bad session the day before.
The Dow Jones was up 0.39%, the tech-heavy NASDAQ was flat (+0.02%) and the S&P 500 was up 0.16% around 10:30 a.m. ET.
On Wednesday, the indices ended on a mixed note, with the NASDAQ having its worst day in nearly two years, falling 2.77% to 17,996.92 points. The Dow Jones climbed 0.59% to a record high of 41,194.99 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.39% to 5,588.27 points.
The big names in the semiconductor sector, which have driven the stock market to record highs in recent months, suffered a setback on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Nvidia (1.41%), AMD (+0.82%) and ASML (+1.13%) returned to the green after all losing more than 6% the day before.
“These declines came after reports that the United States is considering tighter export restrictions” on these vital components, said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering sanctions on companies that export chipmaking equipment to China. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said in an interview with Bloomberg that Taiwan should pay the United States for its defense.
This caused shares of Taiwan-based microprocessor manufacturer TSMC to plummet on Wednesday (-7.98%). The stock rose again on Thursday (+1.68%), as the Taiwanese and New York-listed semiconductor giant reported a 36% increase in net profit in the second quarter.
With earnings season well underway, United Airlines gained 2.60% after beating expectations in the second quarter.
Between April and June, the airline achieved a turnover of 14.99 billion dollars (+5.7% year-on-year) and a net profit of 1.32 billion dollars (+23.1%).
Abbott Laboratories lost 1.40% despite stronger quarterly results than analysts expected.
After the market closes, investors will be watching Netflix’s results (+0.69%).
The Blackstone investment fund gained 3.37% even though the group announced weaker results than expected.
Automaker Ford advanced 2.07% after announcing a future investment of $3 billion in Canada to increase production of its pickup trucks.
On the macroeconomic side, the European Central Bank (ECB) left rates unchanged as markets expected “noting that price pressure in Europe is still strong,” Briefing’s Patrick O’Hare pointed out.
The euro gave up what it had gained the day before against the dollar, falling by 0.29% to $1.0907 around 10:15 a.m. (Eastern time).
Among the indicators, weekly jobless claims rose by 20,000 to 243,000. “We are seeing a slowdown in the labor market, which will continue to fuel the idea that the U.S. central bank (Fed) is likely to cut rates before the end of the year,” O’Hare said.
This weakening of the job market, which may also reflect the impact of Hurricane Beryl, somewhat contradicts the manufacturing activity barometer of the highly industrial Philadelphia region, which rose sharply to 13.9 points compared to 1.3 the previous month, surprising analysts.
On the bond market, ten-year rates remained on the rise at 4.16% against 4.15%.