A New York Stock Exchange operator (AFP/ANGELA WEISS)
The New York Stock Exchange concluded with a rebound on Thursday after digesting the Fed’s message while positioning itself ahead of the results of three of the “Magnificent Seven” of technology.
The Dow Jones index ended up 0.97% at 38,159.84 points, the Nasdaq gained 1.30% to 15,361.64 points and the S&P 500 +1.25% to 4,906.19 points before publication quarterly accounts of Apple, Amazon and Meta, just after the close.
Wednesday Jerome Powell, the president of the American central bank (Fed), “really wanted to send the message that they were not ready to lower rates in March,” summarized Steve Sosnick, of Interactive Brokers.
Wall Street, which had fallen the day before following these comments, still rebounded. “The market has not yet fully heard Mr. Powell because expectations of a rate cut in March are still at 40%,” according to Mr. Sosnick.
“So some investors heard it but not everyone,” he added to partly explain the rebound in stocks.
“Today traders were eager to buy on the dip,” just before the announcements from the technology trio Apple, Amazon and Meta, whose shares all ended higher.
Amazon (+2.63% to $159.28) climbed almost 4% in electronic exchanges after the close after having largely exceeded expectations in terms of turnover ($170 billion in 4Q, +14%). as profit (10.6 billion).
The online sales giant benefited from a strong holiday season but also from sustained activity in its web services.
Ditto for Meta (+1.10% closing at $394.78), which soared more than 12% after closing to a historic high after a series of good figures.
Sales of the group which includes Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp exceeded expectations at $40 billion in the fourth quarter (+25% year-on-year) for a profit of $14 billion. Facebook, the original social network launched twenty years ago, had 2.11 billion daily active users at the end of December, about 20 million more than at the end of September.
Mark Zuckerberg’s group also announced a $50 billion share buyback program.
Apple, which closed up 1.33%, was punished in electronic exchanges (-1.64%) despite a return to growth in its turnover to 119.6 billion dollars in the fourth quarter, more than foreseen.
But investors have become concerned about falling iPhone sales in China.
After announcing decent results but punished by the market the day before, Microsoft rose by 1.56%, as did Alphabet (Google, +0.64%).
The Merck laboratory (+4.64%) did better than expected in the fourth quarter, despite a significant loss of $1.2 billion. Its forecasts for the current fiscal year are above analysts’ projections.
The specialist in treadmills and connected bicycles Peloton collapsed by 24.28% after reporting a new loss in the fourth quarter and publishing disappointing forecasts.
The regional banking sector has once again caused concern, almost a year after the start of the crisis which had brought several establishments to the ground.
“Investors are still a little worried that problems persist in the banks,” said Steve Sosnick, interviewed by AFP.
New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) dropped 11.13% to $5.75, after having already fallen by 38% the day before, after the publication of a quarterly net loss, Tuesday after market trading.
The takeover, in March 2023, of its competitor Signature Bank, which came under the control of the American authorities to avoid bankruptcy, pushed NYCB into the group of banks with more than $100 billion in assets, which leads to obligations reinforced prudential measures.
Among other regional banks, Western Alliance shares lost 7.57%, Valley National Bancorp 6.86%, Truist 1.51%.
Ten-year bond yields slipped to their lowest since the start of the year at 3.86%.
© 2024 AFP
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