PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened in disarray on Tuesday after the first quarter results of the retail sector, including Walmart, which supported the Dow, while the other two Wall Street indices are affected by fears on inflation and recession after the recent equity rally.
About fifteen minutes after the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index gained 15.91 points, or 0.05%, to 33,928.35 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500, wider, however fell by 0.17% to 4,289.53 points.
The Nasdaq Composite for its part cde 0.53%, or 69.62 points, 13,058.42.
Walmart announced on Tuesday that it now expects a lower annual profit decline than previously anticipated, as promotions and lower fuel prices enabled it to exceed expectations for the quarter to the end of July.
The title of the number one retailer in the United States jumped 5.4%, dragging in its wake Kohl’s 1%, Macy’s, Costco Wholesale and Best Buy, which rose from 1.8% to 3.2%.
Home Depot takes 1.79%, the giant of DIY stores and fittings having published Tuesday a quarterly turnover higher than .
The distribution compartment gains 0.61%, while that of mass consumption advances by 0.78%.
Excluding distribution, technology stocks are losing the image of Apple (-0.3%) or Microsoft, which lost around 0.3%.
Exxon Mobil is also in the red, in the wake of a further decline in crude oil prices due to fears about Chinese demand after economic indicators deemed disappointing.
Investor sentiment is still bearish, but more in an “apocalyptic” way, according to BofA’s monthly survey of global fund managers released on Tuesday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq rebounded 24% from its mid-June low and among S&P-500 companies that have already reported results, 77.6% have so far exceeded analysts’ estimates, according to data. Refinitiv data.
(Rig by Claude Chendjou, said by Jean-Michel Blot)