The floor of the New York Stock Exchange (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/Michael M. Santiago)
The New York Stock Exchange is moving slightly in the green Thursday, trying to end the month with a fifth consecutive session of increase.
The Dow Jones index advanced by 0.23%, the Nasdaq, which is dominated by technology, rose by 0.40% and the S&P 500 by 0.25% around 2:10 p.m. GMT.
The day before, the Dow Jones had advanced 0.11% to 34,890.24 points. The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, had taken 0.54% to 14,019.31 points and the S&P 500, with a gain of 0.38% to 4,514.87 points, had come back for the first time in almost a month. above 4,500 points.
These successive gains helped Wall Street to reduce its losses in August, historically very often a delicate month for the markets. Over the month, the Dow Jones fell by more than 1% while the Nasdaq and the broader index lost almost 2%.
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.
Excluding volatile energy and food prices, so-called core inflation is also accelerating, to 4.2% over one year from 4.1% in June, while the Fed wants to bring this measure at 2%.
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”.
“Less strained data in the August jobs report due on Friday and with the CPI inflation index a few weeks away will be vital in deterring the Fed from raising interest rates further,” warned the Economist.
Michael Pearce of Oxford Economics expects consumer momentum “to begin to wane in the coming months, coupled with an easing in the labor market”. “We continue to believe that a mild recession over the coming quarters is likely,” he added.
The PMI index of activity in the industrial region of Chicago improved in August (48.7 points against 4.28 the month before) but remains in recession.
Weekly jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 228,000.
On the bond market, ten-year rates remained stable at 4.11%.
The actions were encouraged by some good results.
Salesforce, the customer relations software giant, posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue and raised its full-year sales forecast to $34.8 billion, driven in particular by the development of the ‘artificial intelligence. The stock rose 5.59%.
The title Shopify was highly sought after (+8.14%), after the group of services dedicated to e-commerce reached an agreement with Amazon to use its logistics network.
Discount chain Dollar General’s stock tumbled more than 17% 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 2.85%.
© 2023 AFP
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