(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street ended generally in the red on Thursday, the latest indicators on the job market – on the eve of the monthly report from the Department of Labor – having notably revived fears of seeing the Federal Reserve refrain from lowering rates in March.
If the Dow Jones managed to just finish in positive territory, with a symbolic gain of 37,440 points, the S&P500 lost more than 0.3% to less than 4,689 points and the Nasdaq Composite fell by almost 0.6%. at 14,510 points.
According to the monthly survey published by the ADP firm, the private sector in the United States generated 164,000 new jobs in December, a figure both significantly higher than the consensus and that of the previous month.
The Department of Labor reported, for its part, 202,000 new registrations for unemployment benefits in the United States last week, a figure down by 18,000 compared to the previous week.
Finally, the private sector in the United States saw the growth of its activity accelerate very slightly in December, according to S&P Global, whose composite PMI index came to 50.9 ultimately, compared to 51 in the flash estimate and 50.7 for the previous month.
From a market point of view, these rather solid data – which demonstrated the robustness of the job market – reinforced the feeling that the Fed’s key rates should remain at their current levels for the immediate future.
Several warnings on results also came as a chill, such as that of the agri-food group Conagra Brands (-1.8%) which revised its annual forecasts downwards, citing a ‘still difficult macroeconomic environment’.
Walgreens Boots Alliance dropped 5.1%, the pharmacy chain having announced a near halving (-48%) of its quarterly dividend per share, on the occasion of the publication of its results for its first quarter 2023-24.
Finally, Mobileye fell by 24.5% after the launch by this company specializing in autonomous driving technologies of a warning on its 2024 results due to a high level of stocks among its customers.
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