The entrance to the New York Stock Exchange and that of the Wall Street station (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/SPENCER PLATT)
The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply higher on Friday, boosted by employment figures preserving the hypothesis of a soft landing for the American economy, as well as by a jump in regional banks.
The Dow Jones rose 1.65%, the Nasdaq index rose 2.25% and the S&P 500 index rose 1.85%.
After four consecutive bearish sessions, the market was ready for a rebound and relied on the monthly US jobs report to get going.
Some 253,000 jobs were created in April in the United States, much more than the 180,000 announced by economists. The difference with the forecasts was put into perspective by the sharp downward revision of the two previous months (-149,000 in total).
The three-month average fell from 333,000 in January to 222,000 currently. “So clearly the job market is still robust, but it’s cooling,” commented Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
“The (macroeconomic) figures of the day, with the rebound of the regional banks, brought relief to the fact that the current state of the economy is not that of a recession”, observes Angelo Kourkafas, of Edward Jones. “We’re not even at a turning point.”
On the banking front, confidence returned on Friday as it had disappeared, without warning, during another difficult week for regional establishments.
Presented as the last weak link to date, the Californian PacWest thus almost doubled in value during the session (+81.70%), which also saw the sign of Phoenix (Arizona) Western Alliance recover (+49.23 %), as well as that of Salt Lake City (Utah) Zions (+ 19.22%).
The momentum benefited the biggest American banks, such as Wells Fargo (+3.32%) or Citigroup (+3.16%).
The operators nevertheless noted, in the employment report, that the average salary had increased faster than expected (+0.5% against +0.3%) over one month.
“The report underlines that even if the Fed (US central bank) signaled a pause (in its communication on Wednesday), further rate hikes cannot be ruled out if job creation and wage growth do not moderate. not, with inflation”, warned, in a note, Oxford Economics.
The prospect of inflation that is slow to return to the nails has played on bond rates, which have risen. The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 3.42%, against 3.37% the day before closing.
Wall Street was also well oriented by the results of Apple (+4.69%), Thursday after the stock market, which carried the giant at the apple and a good part of the technology sector with it.
The Cupertino (California) firm recorded a second consecutive drop in sales, but exceeded market expectations, mainly thanks to its star product, the iPhone, which now accounts for 54% of group sales. Apple also announced a new share buyback program of up to $90 billion.
Chauffeur-driven vehicle booking platform Lyft slowed down (-19.27%) after reporting forecasts below analysts’ projections, despite a better-than-expected first quarter.
Entertainment group Warner Bros Discovery fell (-4.54%) after reporting lower than expected revenue and a surprise loss. The Burbank (California) company suffered from a slowdown in content sales and advertising. It should be noted, however, that the streaming activity has reached profitability.
The Coinbase cryptocurrency trading platform soared (+18.33%), thanks to quarterly results above expectations, in a context deemed unfavorable to digital currencies.
The e-commerce site Shopify also shone (+8.25%), after the announcement of better than expected quarterly activity figures but also the layoff of 20% of the workforce, less than a year after a first plan social which had eliminated 10% of the posts.
© 2023 AFP
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