The floor of the New York Stock Exchange (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/SPENCER PLATT)
The New York Stock Exchange was moving in scattered order around balance on Wednesday, after some disappointing technological results and before the outcome of a monetary meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed).
The Dow Jones index gained 0.11%, the technology-dominated Nasdaq lost 0.38% and the S&P 500 fell 0.37%, around 2:15 p.m. GMT.
Tuesday, following several mixed indicators raising fears that the Fed would leave interest rates high for longer, the Dow Jones fell 1.49% to 37,815.92 points. The Nasdaq fell 2.04% to 15,657.82 points and the broader S&P 500 index lost 1.57% to 5,035.69 points.
“April was a tough month for stock indices,” commented Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management, noting that Wall Street posted its first monthly loss in five months.
In April, the Dow Jones will have lost 5%, the Nasdaq 4.4% and the S&P 500 4.2%.
The market was focused Wednesday on what the Federal Reserve will say while a cut in its overnight rates is currently ruled out, given the tenacity of inflation.
“The Monetary Committee should leave rates unchanged between 5.25% and 5.50%. There will be no new economic forecasts, the real news will come from the press conference of Jerome Powell, the president”, at 6:30 p.m. GMT, warned Art Hogan.
For Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com, given the lack of recent progress on inflation, “we must prepare to hear Mr. Powell say that the Fed will raise rates again if necessary.”
On the bond market, yields on Treasury bills, which had increased the day before following a high employment cost index, fell slightly.
The ten-year rate stood at 4.64% instead of 4.68% on Tuesday.
Among the indicators, the monthly ADP/Standford Lab survey showed that the private sector in the United States had created more jobs than expected in April at 192,000.
Official US employment figures will be released on Friday. Analysts forecast 240,000 new hires and a stable unemployment rate of 3.8%.
In terms of company results, investors welcomed the performance of Amazon which tripled its quarterly profit thanks to its “cloud” (remote computing) branch. The stock rose 3.60%.
The microprocessor manufacturer AMD (-6.98%), on the other hand, disappointed by announcing weaker forecasts than expected for the current quarter.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI), maker of servers used with artificial intelligence, reported lower-than-expected results, complaining of being short of some components. The stock, which has tripled in value since the start of the year, returned almost 15%.
The American coffee giant Starbucks also saw its shares fall by 15% after publishing results on Tuesday for the second quarter of its delayed financial year, which were well below market forecasts.
Between January and March, the chain earned a turnover of 8.56 billion dollars (-1.8% over one year) and a net profit of 772.4 million, down 15% over one year.
Investors have welcomed pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s decision to end civil lawsuits in a talc case accused of causing cancer, paying about $6.5 billion over twenty-five years. The stock climbed 3.74%.
© 2024 AFP
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