Wall Street up, helped by good indicators and a decline in rates

(New York) The New York Stock Exchange was trying to extend its rebound Thursday at the start of the session thanks to better than expected indicators and a contraction in bond rates, in a wait-and-see climate on the eve of the speech of the president of the American central bank (Fed).

Posted at 9:42

Around 2:15 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones gained 0.30%, the NASDAQ index 0.98%, and the broader S&P 500 index took 0.75%.

On Wednesday, Wall Street had managed to put an end to three consecutive sessions of decline and to hang a small rise.

“We had good macroeconomic news today, […] who argue for a rebound,” commented Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States thus contracted a little less than expected in the second quarter (-0.6% against -0.9% initially announced), and weekly jobless claims came out slightly down, significantly lower than economists’ forecasts.

For Oren Klachkin, this last figure “indicates that the (American) labor market has a solid foundation”.

The New York market, however, evolved within narrow margins.

“We are in a position of observation before the Fed tomorrow”, explained Adam Sarhan, of 50 Park Investments, in reference to the speech which must be delivered, Friday at 2 p.m. GMT, the president of the American central bank, Jerome Powell, at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“We are in a very quiet period, at the end of August, and nobody is really doing much,” he explained, stressing that trading volumes are moderate. “The market is waiting for the next catalyst, so the Fed is highly anticipated. »

Investors expect Mr. Powell to deliver a message of firmness regarding the continuation of the current monetary tightening cycle, to curb inflation.

For Adam Sarhan, “the trend remains downward” in the medium term, an orientation illustrated by the inability of Wall Street to cross, on the rise, certain major technical thresholds, last week.

Listed, Tesla experienced its first session after the division by three of the number of its shares (-0.20% to 296.51 dollars), to lower their unit price and make them more accessible to individual investors. The price thus fell from nearly 900 dollars per unit to just under 300.

The graphics card specialist Nvidia (+1.42% to 174.67 dollars) benefited from results generally confirming expectations, despite a sales forecast significantly lower than expected, which the group put on the account of a lower demand in certain sectors, notably video games.

Also more cautious than expected in its projections, revised downwards, the giant of customer relations and remote computing (cloud) Salesforce (-7.08% to 167.26 dollars) also invoked a slowdown in demand as well as very unfavorable exchange rate effects.

In the same sector, the remote data management company (cloud) Snowflake soared (+ 17.88% to 188.01 dollars) thanks to better than expected turnover and prospects hailed by analysts .

Overall, the technology sector rather benefited from these publications and the behemoths of NASDAQ, Apple (+1.20%), Amazon (+1.67%) and Alphabet (+1.54%) were sought after.

Tech and growth stocks were also helped by lower bond yields, which were contracting after a long run of increases, linked to a market now convinced that the Fed will not stop raising rates anytime soon, despite the fears for growth.

The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 3.08%, against 3.10% the day before.

The manufacturer of exercise bikes and connected treadmills Peloton fell heavily (-19.40 to 10.86 dollars), after reporting a turnover down 27%, well below expectations, and announced to expect a further decline in its revenues during the current quarter.


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