(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street continued its consolidation Tuesday morning, penalized by the return of geopolitical concerns and by profit-taking on technology stocks.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones lost more than 1% to 39,155.7 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.4% to 16,167.4 points.
The New York indices, which had already taken a break on Monday, continue to catch their breath after setting new records last week.
Over the first quarter as a whole, the Dow Jones gained 5.6% while the Nasdaq gained 9.1%.
The announcement at the start of the morning of a rebound in industrial orders did not allow the markets to return to a favorable trajectory.
After a fall of 3.8% in January, orders to American industry recovered by 1.4% in February, according to the Commerce Department.
Investors prefer to be cautious before a busy week of economic indicators and speeches by Fed officials.
In addition to the ISM services index, which will fall tomorrow, the always closely watched employment figures are expected this week, which will appear on Friday.
Investors are also counting on a promising harvest of results, from mid-April, in order to maintain the upward momentum of the markets after a spectacular first quarter.
On the value side, technologies are under pressure and their sector index is falling (-1.6%) after jumping 13% over the first three months of the year.
Electric car manufacturer Tesla lost more than 6% in early trading after announcing vehicle deliveries down 8% in the first quarter.
Only the energy sector (+0.7%) stands out as oil prices rise following strikes carried out by the IDF on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which left several dead.
This renewed tension, which raises fears of an escalation in the Middle East, is reflected on the markets by an increase in the barrel of American light crude (WTI) which rose by 1.2% to more than 84.7 dollars.
GE Vernova, the energy subsidiary of GE, takes 2.8% for its stock market debut following its split from GE, the last step in the dismantling of the American industrial conglomerate.
At $2,297.9, an ounce of gold also established a new peak, benefiting from a return to safe haven values in the face of concerns about geopolitics.
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