(Boursier.com) – Wall Street is offering a nice rebound for this penultimate session of the year. The Nasdaq is pulling the trend in the wake of major Asian tech stocks after Beijing loosened control of the video game industry. Thus, the S&P 500 climbed 1.75% to 3,849 points. The Dow Jones rose 1.05% to 33,220 points. The Nasdaq offers a stratospheric rebound of 2.59% to 10,478 points.
China’s industry regulator on Wednesday granted marketing licenses to 45 foreign games, including Nintendo’s “Pokémon Unite”, published by Tencent, after an 18-month freeze. The slight easing in bond yields is also supporting the indices.
Investors are thus making purchases on the cheap after a particularly delicate 2022 financial year for the American market. In addition to questions about the impact of the rapid rise in the interest rates of the major central banks, the cause of a large part of the drop in the indices in 2022, there are now fears about the epidemic outbreak in China since that Beijing seems to have abandoned its “zero Covid” policy. Several countries, including Italy and the United States, now require airline passengers from China to present a negative Covid-19 test before entering their territory. Bad news for the airline industry.
While business news is dwindling, the day’s macroeconomic program is hardly more substantial… Weekly jobless claims rose slightly in the United States last week. The US Department of Labor announced for the week ended December 24 that jobless claims reached 225,000, up 9,000 from the previous week. An evolution in line with market expectations.
The barrel of oil is still under pressure. The WTI gives back -0.2%, returning to $78.66, still penalized by the resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic in China, the world’s largest consumer of crude.
On the currency market, the greenback fell -0.57% against the euro, to 0.9367.
An ounce of gold gained +0.1% to $1,814. Bitcoin recovered 0.52% to $16,598.
Values
* You’re here (+8.08% to $121.82). The Austin group confirms its rebound. The action, which ended a seven-session bearish streak yesterday, lost nearly 70% in 2022, logically recording the worst financial year in the manufacturer’s stock market history. Elon Musk, the group’s chief executive, told his employees not to worry about the current “stock market madness”, believing that Tesla would be the most valuable company in the world in the long term. “As we demonstrate continued excellent performance, the market will recognize that,” the executive said in an email obtained by Reuters. In the same memo, the billionaire asked his employees to work twice as hard: “please do everything for the next few days and volunteer to help deliver if possible. This will make a real difference”. Statements that come as the manufacturer could miss its delivery target in the fourth quarter due in particular to the surge in coronavirus contaminations in China.
* General Motors (+3.5% to $33.67), Amazon (+2.88% to $84.18) and fedex (+1.44% to $175.55) are gaining ground. The US administration will introduce, as of January 1, a tax credit to encourage delivery and logistics companies to switch to electric vehicles.
* Goldman Sachs (+0.75% to $343.43). The group is preparing to cut its workforce. Rumors about the loss of several thousand jobs in the investment bank have been circulating for several weeks in the trading rooms. David Solomon, the head of the Wall Street establishment, indicated that the group would take action in its traditional end-of-year message sent to staff. “We are conducting a careful review and although discussions are still ongoing, we expect our downsizing to take place in the first half of January,” the executive said. “Various factors are impacting the business landscape, including tighter monetary conditions that are slowing economic activity. For our leadership team, the focus is on preparing the business for these headwinds. We must proceed with caution and manage our resources wisely.”
The company may seek to cut up to 8% of its workforce or up to 4,000 jobs to cope with falling profits, people close to the bank recently told ‘Bloomberg’, although the number final may be lower. Senior executives were asked to identify potential cost-cutting targets, the agency’s sources said. While GS is on track to post around $48 billion in revenue in 2022, its second-best performance behind last year’s record, the group has seen its costs soar in an environment markedly less favorable.
* Southwest (-0.1% to $62.54). After falling 11% over the past two days, the stock remains under scrutiny. The airline is struggling to get back on track after canceling thousands of flights over the past week following the winter storm that swept through the United States.