Operators of the New York Stock Exchange (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/SPENCER PLATT)
The New York Stock Exchange closed in mixed order on Monday as trading volume was modest pending further talks on the US debt ceiling.
The Dow Jones index fell 0.42% to 33,286.58 points. The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, gained 0.50% to 12,720.78 points and the S&P 500 remained stable at 4,192.63 points (+0.02%).
President Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy, his main Republican opponent on the debt ceiling, were to resume negotiations on Monday, after the close of markets, in an attempt to quickly reach an agreement and avoid a dangerous default of payment from the United States.
To give the green light to raising the country’s debt limit, Republicans want cuts in social spending. An agreement must be reached before June 1, otherwise, for the first time in its history, the United States risks defaulting on the repayment of Treasury bonds.
“The main driver of the market remains these ongoing talks in Washington which hopefully will avoid a default,” said Edward Moya of Oanda.
But for Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital, the market “isn’t really scared off by the rhetoric from Washington”. During a session with low volume, the Dow Jones tilted mainly weighed down by Chevron (-1.81%) and McDonald’s (-2.10%).
The oil group will buy PDC, a producer of crude oil and natural gas in Colorado and Texas, for 6.3 billion dollars or more than 10% above the price of the action at the close on Friday.
Also a member of the Dow, Nike fell 3.97% as the stock’s rating was downgraded by analysts in the wake of sports shoe distributor Foot Locker (-8.56%).
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq concluded higher despite the uncertainties in Washington.
“I think investors are more focused on the monetary policy of the Fed,” said Peter Cardillo, noting that Neel Kashkari, a voting member of the Monetary Committee and chairman of the Minneapolis Fed, suggested that a pause in increases rate in June is possible.
“It’s pretty tight between the need to raise rates or pass the round,” he said, in a more moderate tone than the week before.
It seems “the idea of a break is spreading”, concluded the Spartan Capital analyst.
Semiconductor maker Micron Technology fell 2.85% as China accuses the US group of failing security and calls on companies to stop buying its chips. The United States responded by expressing its “very serious concerns” about these sales restrictions, according to a spokesman for the State Department.
Meta gained 1.09% despite a record €1.2 billion fine from the Irish regulator for breaching European data protection rules (GDPR) with its social network Facebook.
The video-conferencing specialist Zoom, which ended up 2.94% at 71.41 dollars, still took more than 5% in electronic trading after the close. The group announced quarterly results slightly above analysts’ forecasts.
In the morning, a brief episode of fake news tripped up the indices for a moment. A fake photograph relayed on Twitter showing an explosion at the Pentagon caused the market to dip slightly for ten minutes.
A Pentagon spokesman had to deny “the false information”.
“There was a downside to this misinformation when the machines picked it up,” Briefing.com’s Pat O’Hare noted, referring to automated trading software that is programmed to react to network posts. social.
But the fact that this hollow remained measured against the content of this false information suggests that some had already “deemed it muddy”, added the analyst interviewed by AFP.
© 2023 AFP
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