(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street recorded a slight increase on Monday, supported by the good performance of retail sales and the results of Goldman Sachs, but investors prefer to remain cautious before the burst of company publications expected this week.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones index gained 0.2% to 38,061.1 points, while the broader S&P 500 advanced 0.1% to 5,127.1 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.1% to 16,156.1 points.
The three major indices remain at levels quite close to their historic peaks recorded at the end of March, although they have just aligned two consecutive weeks.
Signs of relaxation in the Middle East are encouraging a timid return of investors to risk assets, in contrast to the marked decline observed last week.
After the strikes carried out this weekend by Tehran against Israel, investors are finding some peace of mind as Joe Biden seems to want to avoid an escalation at all costs.
With the ebb of geopolitical tensions, the CBOE VIX volatility index fell by 5.5% to 16.30 points, while the barrel of crude consolidated by 1.2% to $84.6.
Gold follows the movement by falling back below the $2,350 mark after reaching a brief ‘peak’ at $2,430 on Friday.
Several indicators animated the session, but investors especially seem to favor the retail sales figures which increased significantly more than expected (+0.7%) in March, which reassures about the health of the American economy.
By ruling out the scenario of a future rate cut, this indicator on the other hand pushes the yields of Treasuries towards new annual highs, with a 10-year paper rising above 4.64% without this penalizing as much. than that Wall Street.
On the securities side, Goldman Sachs stands out with a gain of more than 3.3% following the publication of better-than-expected quarterly results, supported by its businesses in the financial markets.
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