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MARKET REVIEW. The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Monday, led by a bargain hunt after a difficult week, but the market still lacks conviction due to the prevailing economic uncertainty.
To (re)consult market news
Stock market indices at closing
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX rose 40.94 points (+0.20%) to 20,260.13 points.
In New York, the S&P 500 closed up 12.20 points (+0.31%) at 3,982.24 points.
The Nasdaq rose by 72.04 points (+0.63%) to 11,466.98 points.
The DOW ended up 72.17 points (+0.22%) at 32,889.09 points.
The loon rose by US$0.0019 (+0.2579%) to US$0.7368.
The oil ended down US$0.62 (-0.81%) at US$75.70.
L’or advanced US$7.20 (+0.40%) to US$1,824.30.
The bitcoin dropped US$181.52 (-0.77%) to US$23,396.75.
The context
Wall Street took advantage of the rebound that began on Friday when the star indices had approached important technical thresholds, which had acted as a floor.
On Monday, investors set their sights on the most discounted stocks of the past week, including mining Freeport McMoRan (FCX, +0.55% to US$40.11) or Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF, +4.56% to US$20.62) as well as more volatile stocks like Netflix (NFLX, +1.85% to US$323.03) or that of the electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian (RIVN, +6.52% to US$18.45).
The New York market welcomed a lull in the bond market, after the surge recorded in recent days due to a recalibration of operators, who now see the American central bank (Fed) making three new rate hikes of one quarter point each by the summer.
After hovering around 4% earlier on Monday, at a more than three-month high, the yield on ten-year US government bonds eased to 3.92% from 3.94% at the close on Friday.
This relatively calm climate has boosted technology stocks, which are very sensitive to interest rates which predict the conditions for financing their growth. Semiconductors have been particularly sought after, whether AMD (AMD, +0,87% à 78,77$ US), Texas Instruments (TXN, +0.95% to US$170.74) or Broadcom (AVGO, +1.33% to US$585.45).
But the momentum seen early in the session waned over the hours, to the point that Dow Jones and Nasdaq eventually ended close to balance.
Investors were coolly welcomed the leading indicator of the day, durable goods orders in the United States, which came out down 4.5% in January over one month, against an increase of 5.1% in December, a fall greater than economists’ expectations (-3.6%).
The market mainly retained the indicator excluding the transport industry, which posted a rise of 0.7% over one month, the most marked since March 2022. This figure “adds to the series of recent data which show that the ‘economy [américaine] has more vigor than we thought at the end of 2022”, commented in a note Oren Klachkin of Oxford Economics.
“There are a lot of opposing currents at work right now,” according to Nick Reece of Guiness Global Investors. “It’s a puzzling day.”
Generally speaking, investors lack conviction, due to the lack of clarity of macroeconomic indicators and company results. “The orientation remains rather downward for the market”, according to the analyst.
In the table of values, Tesla gained momentum (TSLA, +5.46% to US$207.63), ahead of Wednesday’s Investor Day, when the automaker is expected to make announcements.
The laboratory Seen (SGEN, +10.40% to US$178.16), a leader in innovative cancer treatments, soared after the Wall Street Journal reported on discussions for a possible acquisition by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE, -2.32% to US$40.78).
Another meteorite from the coast, the railway company Union Pacific (UNP, +10.09% to US$212.17), which announced on Sunday the forthcoming departure of managing director Lance Fritz, whose alternative fund Soroban Capital Partners had claimed the lead, against a background of poor performance in the last quarter .
Manchester United slipped again (MANU, -9.22% to US$20.78), despite the first team’s victory in the English League Cup on Sunday. Since its ascent before the takeover offers were filed by the club listed in New York in mid-February, the action has lost more than 22%.