(Boursier.com) — Wall Street is moving more calmly this Friday after its relapse the day before, when many investors have already closed their accounts for the year before a long three-day Christmas weekend on the financial markets… S&P500 recovers 0.37% to 3,836 points, the Dow Jones rose by 0.35% to 33,125 points, but the Nasdaq fell 0.36% to 10,438 points. Yesterday’s upward revision to US third-quarter growth from 2.9% to 3.2% heightened concerns about the Fed’s continued monetary tightening, especially as the price index Core PCE, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, was also revised to 4.7% on an annual basis, compared to the announced 4.6% the previous month.
On the job market, jobless claims increased slightly in the United States last week but remain close to their lowest level… The US Department of Labor has indeed announced, for the week ended December 12, that jobless claims reached 216,000, up 2,000 from the previous week. The market consensus was at 222,000. The four-week average stands at 227,750, down from 6,250. Finally, the number of unemployed people receiving compensation for the week ended December 5 reached 1.672 million, down 6,000 over seven days (1.675 million consensus).
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.1% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. October data was revised up to +0.9%, from the +0.8% previously reported. Economists had forecast consumer spending to rise 0.2%. Some of the moderation in spending last month reflects a shift in demand from goods to services.
On the currency market, the euro stands at $1.06. On the oil market, the barrel of Brent is moving up 3%, above 83 dollars. Russia could cut oil production by 5% to 7% at the start of 2023 in response to price caps for its crude and petroleum products by ceasing sales to countries that have provided support, it said. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Friday. Alexander Novak indicated during an interview on state television that oil production could be reduced by 500,000 to 700,000 barrels per day.
The G7 countries, the European Union and Australia have agreed to cap the price of a barrel of Russian maritime oil at 60 dollars, the idea being to dry up Russia’s income to prevent it from financing the war in Ukraine with its crude sales. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this week that he would issue a decree early next week outlining Moscow’s response to the decision…
Values
* You’re here : +0.1%. Elon Musk has said he won’t sell more Tesla shares for about two years after selling nearly $40 billion worth of shares since late last year, mostly to fund the Twitter takeover. Tesla stock has fallen nearly 65% since the start of the year.
On the ground, a sign of the crisis that is catching up with the American economy, the electric car manufacturer is offering discounts of up to $7,500 on its Model 3 and Model Y delivered in the United States this month ($5,000 in Canada ) as Elon Musk’s group faces a sharp slowdown in demand. In addition to fears of recession, consumers are also waiting for new tax incentives. Tesla, which until now offered a maximum credit of $3,750, is also offering 10,000 free recharge miles on its Superchargers.
* Meta : +3.2%. Facebook’s parent company has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a collective lawsuit accusing the social network of letting third parties, including consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, access its users’ personal data.
According to plaintiffs’ attorneys, the proposed amount is “the largest ever awarded in a U.S. data privacy class action lawsuit and the largest Meta has ever paid to resolve a class action.” However, it has still not admitted its wrongdoing under the agreement, which remains subject to the approval of a federal judge in San Francisco. The company, however, said in a statement that the settlement is “in the best interest of our community and our shareholders.” “Over the past three years, we have revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program,” Meta management said.
* Apple : -0.4%. ‘Apple Watch’ watches with an electrocardiogram function violate patents owned by medical device maker AliveCor, the US International Trade Commission has announced, which could lead to a ban on their importation into the United States…
* BioNTech (-1.7%) announced the launch of phase I of the clinical trial of its malaria vaccine candidate, which uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Trials of this vaccine, dubbed BNT165b1, involve recruiting 60 volunteers with no history of malaria in the United States for evaluation at three dose levels, BioNTech said in a statement.
BNT165b1 is the first vaccine candidate in BioNTech’s malaria project, which aims to develop a highly effective mRNA vaccine and establish vaccine production in Africa. The company said it will initially evaluate different antigens from the malaria parasite over the next few months to select the multi-antigen vaccine candidate for subsequent trials…
* AT&T (-0.4%) and fund manager BlackRock announce the creation of the Gigapower joint venture to operate a fiber optic platform in the United States.
* Microsoft (steady). In a public statement, Microsoft said its plan to take over the video game publisher. Activision would benefit “both gamers and other companies in the industry”. Recall that the group announced last January that it wanted to buy Activision for an estimated amount of $69 billion. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US competition policeman, however initiated proceedings at the beginning of the month aimed at blocking this takeover, saying it feared a serious violation of competition. Microsoft has filed an appeal to convince a judge of the instance to authorize its proposed takeover…