New York (awp / afp) – The New York Stock Exchange closed sharply higher on Tuesday, benefiting from a rebound after three sessions of decline, against the backdrop of a slight easing against the Omicron variant.
The Dow Jones gained 1.60% to end at 35,492.70 points, the technology-heavy Nasdaq index gained 2.40% to 15,341.08 points, and the broader S&P 500 index, 1.78 %, at 4,649.23 points.
“The time for a rebound has come,” said Art Hogan of National Securities. “I do not see so many other catalysts” that the technical thresholds crossed lower Monday, causing a downturn on Tuesday.
Besides the technical aspect, for Rob Haworth, in charge of investment strategy at US Bank Wealth Management, “we can see that the market is moderating its concerns over the weekend”.
“There is hope that Omicron is not as serious as the market had anticipated,” he said. The fact that the United States or the United Kingdom refrained from announcing new restrictions has brought water to the mill of optimists.
In addition, investors were also encouraged by the continuation of discussions in Congress to try to reach a compromise on the massive plan of President Joe Biden.
The approach of the holidays also reduces trading volumes, which tends to increase market volatility.
On Wall Street, Nike’s results were greeted by investors (+ 6.15% to 166.63 dollars), who retained the high level of margin more than the weak growth in turnover (+ 1%) , mainly due to the persistence of supply disruptions.
The group, whose figures were drawn by North America, confirmed its objective of 5% increase in turnover over its postponed fiscal year 2022 (from June to May).
Food giant General Mills did not fare as well (-4.03% to 65.06 dollars), with a gross margin down 4 percentage points.
The company, which controls the Cheerios or Häagen-Dazs brands, raised prices for many of its products, but that was not enough to offset soaring costs.
Its breakfast cereal competitor, Kellogg, followed in its wake -2.67% to $ 62.65). The group announced Tuesday that the majority of some 1,400 employees at four production sites had validated a new company agreement between the BCTGM union and management, with wage increases as a result.
The manufacturer of memory cards Micron took advantage (+ 10.54% to 90.68 dollars) of better than expected results, doubled by the announcement of ambitious forecasts for the current quarter.
The title of the drugstore chain Rite Aid soared (+ 21.37% to 15.05 dollars) after the publication of mixed results. Turnover came out below expectations, but the group, which announced the closure of at least 63 points of sale, raised its forecast for operating profit for its entire 2022 fiscal year (from March to February).
Already attacked Monday, the Novavax (-5.39%) and Moderna (-2.98%) laboratories were again targeted, despite the European green light for the vaccine of the first and encouraging clinical results against Omicron for the second. Pfizer (-3.39%) and Merck (-1.14%) also ended down.
afp / rp