The floor of the New York Stock Exchange (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/Michael M. Santiago)
The New York Stock Exchange ended Thursday without direction, the Nasdaq nevertheless signing a fifth consecutive session of increases, pending the publication of the US employment report for August on Friday.
The Dow Jones index lost 0.48% to 34,721.91 points and the S&P 500 lost 0.16% to 4,597.66 points while the Nasdaq gained 0.11% to 14,034.97 points.
In a sparse trading session heading into the Labor Day long weekend, the market digested a new inflation gauge, muted by expectations of a crucial report on Friday, that of job creations. jobs for the month of August.
“We had a nice rally in the market last week, now the market is taking a break to digest this rise which is perfectly normal and healthy before the important figures of the employment report,” Adam Sarhan told AFP. of 50 Park Investments.
Analysts expect new hires to slow to 173,000 with the unemployment rate up slightly to 3.6%.
The stock market gains of recent sessions helped to reduce the losses of a difficult month for the indices, which however ended with a monthly drop of more than 1%.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department published the statement of household spending and income for July, which shows an increase in spending (+0.8%), more solid than expected.
The PCE inflation index based on these consumer spending came out as expected at +0.2% over the month. Over one year, the rise in prices however accelerated to 3.3% against 3% in June, according to this barometer preferred by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to gauge the evolution of prices.
For Ben Ayers, economist at Nationwide, the rise in prices for services in particular “challenges the idea that the slowdown is at work and could worry Fed officials as the committee meeting approaches. monetary policy from the central bank in September”.
Oanda’s Craig Erlam said the inflation data “was in line with expectations and good enough to allow the Fed to pause next month” in rate hikes. “It’s ok for now but still needs a lot of improvement over the next few months,” added the analyst.
Among the other indicators of the day, the PMI index of activity in the industrial region of Chicago improved in August (48.7 points against 42.8 the month before) but remained in recession.
Weekly jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 228,000.
On the bond market, ten-year rates on Treasury bills fell to 4.09% against 4.11% the day before. The dollar nevertheless strengthened.
On the stock side, Salesforce, the customer relations software giant, posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue and raised its full-year sales forecast to $34.8 billion, boosted in particular through the development of artificial intelligence. The stock climbed 2.99% to $221.46.
The title Shopify was highly sought after (+ 10.80% to 66.49 dollars), after the group of services dedicated to e-commerce reached an agreement with Amazon to use its logistics network.
Shares in discount chain Dollar General tumbled 12.16% to $138.49 after, like many retailers, the group slashed its sales and profit outlook for the year, again citing a more cautious consumer and an upsurge in theft. Its competitor Dollar Tree lost 1.71%.
The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange platform dropped 5.05% in the wake of a drop in bitcoin (-3.98% at 8:20 p.m. GMT) and after its strong gains since Tuesday after a court decision which should authorize, at the grand dame of the stock market policeman, the SEC, the listing of investment products (ETFs) based on bitcoin.
© 2023 AFP
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