(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street is moving lower on Friday following the publication of new indicators, fueling investor concerns about the health of the US economy.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones fell 0.8% to 35,829.5 points, while the Nasdaq Composite limited its decline around 0.1% to 14,787.5 points.
The New York Stock Exchange has been on a downward trend since the start of the year, with the rise in inflation and the prospect of monetary tightening by the Fed not encouraging investors much to take risks.
The economic indicators published in the morning do not encourage optimism either, painting the picture of a very lackluster activity at the end of 2021.
The Department of Commerce announced this morning that retail sales fell 1.9% in December, marking a surprise drop after a minimal increase of 0.2% in November.
This statistic suggests that the rapid spread of the Omicron variant weighed on consumer spending at the end of the year.
The morale of American households is also at half mast according to the first results of the monthly survey by the University of Michigan, whose household confidence index fell from 70.6 in December to 68.8. in January.
Another disappointment, industrial production contracted by 0.1% in the United States in December, affected in particular by milder weather than expected.
If these indicators show that the recovery of the American economy is not as linear as expected, they also suggest that the Federal Reserve could give itself time before raising its rates.
US equity markets are also suffering from a disappointing start to the earnings season.
JPMorgan, the largest US bank by assets, dropped more than 5% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings, but its net banking income fell short of market expectations.
Citigroup, for its part, lost 2.2% after reporting a decline in its fourth quarter net profit due to a marked increase in its costs.
Wells Fargo is better oriented (+4.3%) following the presentation of better than expected quarterly results, thanks in particular to the continuation of its cost reduction dynamic.
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