(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange is expected to open higher on Friday morning, heading for a 14th week of growth out of 15, as investors continue to bet on the scenario of a ‘soft landing’ for the economy.
Half an hour before the opening, ‘futures’ contracts on the major New York indices advanced by 0.2% to 0.3%, announcing a green start to the session.
Buoyed by a solid season of results and statistics which testify to the good health of the American economy, the Dow Jones is posting a gain of 0.2% at this stage of the week and the Nasdaq a weekly increase of more than 1%. .
Above all, the S&P 500 index now seems ripe to exceed the threshold of 5,000 points, which it had briefly crossed upwards during yesterday’s session.
If this level is more a psychological threshold than a major resistance likely to drive the markets higher, its breakdown could encourage investors to revitalize their portfolio.
Despite a valuation often considered stretched, the fact that the S&P reaches this barrier would provide further proof that investors’ preference is currently for stocks rather than bonds.
Some analysts are therefore convinced that there remains room for maneuver in the index.
“The index has doubled in value since March 2020 and the onset of the pandemic and went from 4,000 points to 5,000 points in less than three years,” underlines Mark Haefele, the investment director of the wealth management branch of UBS.
From his point of view, the S&P 500 should logically reach the threshold of 5,300 points this year, which represents an upside potential of another 6%.
After gaining 24% last year, the S&P 500 has already posted an increase of 4.8% since the start of the year, a performance superior to that of almost all other global markets.
Its dynamism seems to completely ignore the headwinds blowing on the rates market, where Treasuries continue their tumble with a yield of 4.17% for 10-year paper, the highest since the start of the year.
No indicator is on the agenda today, but economic statistics should have more influence on Wall Street next week, notably with the latest inflation figures in the United States.
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