PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened slightly lower on Friday after its heavy fall the day before, the announcement of a meeting next week between the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov having revived hopes of an easing of tensions around Ukraine.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 80.71 points, or 0.24%, to 34,231.32 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.11% to 4,375.09 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.28%, or 38.73 points, to 13,677.989.
The hope of a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Eastern Europe allows equity markets to limit their losses, even if the tension is far from having subsided, the pro-Russian separatists in the east of the Ukraine accusing Ukrainian government forces of shelling a village on Friday. The Russian press, however, reported that new infantry and tank units were returning to their bases.
“Although we were warned that a Russian invasion was very likely, the meeting (Blinken-Lavrov) brings hope that nothing will happen until then, offering some stability to the markets”, notes Craig Erlam , market analyst at Oanda.
The CBOE US volatility index, also known as the “fear index”, fell 1.1% after jumping the day before well above its long-term average set at 20 points.
At the sector level, the gains are timid, with banks (+0.4%) and high technologies (+0.4%) being among the most sought after, such as Bank of America which gained 0.5% and of Tesla which advances by 0.3%. Apple, Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft rose 0.2% to 0.5%.
Publications of results also animate the trend. Lithium producer Livent gains 12% after its annual forecast, while the outlook for fast food chain Shake Shack (-7.6%) and streaming device maker Roku (- 23%) are sanctioned.
In mergers and acquisitions, the American manufacturer of industrial materials Dupont de Nemours took 4.7% after the announcement of the sale of its mobility and materials division to Celanese (+ 1.6%) for 11 billion dollars ( 9.6 billion euros) as part of its refocusing on electronics, automotive and hydraulic solutions.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
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