The facade of the New York Stock Exchange (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/SPENCER PLATT)
The New York Stock Exchange was clearly in the red after hesitating at the opening on Thursday, investors digesting the announcement of a new quarter in decline for US GDP between April and June.
The day after a nice rise in the indices in the wake of a rate hike by the Fed in line with forecasts, the Dow Jones dropped 0.48%, the Nasdaq fell by 0.83% and the S&P 500 by 0.55 % at 4:00 p.m. GMT.
On Wednesday the Dow Jones had climbed 1.37% to 32,197.59 points, the Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, had jumped 4.06% to 12,032.42 points, posting its best session since April 2020. The S&P 500, the most representative of the American market, fell 2.62% to 4,023.61 points.
“Macroeconomic data is playing a dominant role this morning and it’s not good,” summarized Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States contracted by 0.9% year on year in the second quarter, a figure worse than expected (+0.3%) which adds to the decline of 1.6% already registered in the first quarter.
This disappointment will make it difficult for the Biden administration to ensure that the economy is not in recession in terms of more favorable indicators, such as employment. A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
“What should be remembered from this report is that it will spark a debate on the question of whether the American economy is in recession,” said Patrick O’Hare in a note.
“Either way, it clearly shows that the economic environment has undoubtedly weakened, which should not come as a complete surprise in light of recent data,” he added as prices soared, real estate sales are slumping and consumer confidence is at half mast.
The day before, the American central bank (Fed) had again intensely raised its key rates by three quarters of a percentage point to put them in the range of 2.25% to 2.50% in its fight to curb inflation which prances. at 9.1%.
Fed boss Jerome Powell assured that the US economy was not in recession and that he wanted to avoid it even if he acknowledged a slowdown.
On the odds, Meta (Facebook) plunged 8.45% to 155 dollars after having shown for the first time in its history a drop in its revenue, linked to competition from TikTok and reductions in spending by advertisers.
Mark Zuckerberg’s group has also suffered a rebuff from the American competition authority (FTC) which prevents it, for reasons of market dominance, from buying a specialist in virtual reality, Within Unlimited.
Apple (-0.98%) and Amazon (-1.72%) were shunned before the publication of their quarterly results after the close.
The airline Spirit (+3.42%), finally acquired by Jetblue (-1.19%) for 3.8 billion dollars, flew away while Frontier (+9.10%), which threw the sponge, was wanted.
On the bond market, rates on ten-year bonds fell to their lowest for almost 4 months at 2.66% at ten years against 2.78%.
vmt/cm
© 2022 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
