2023-07-14 20:01:39
The New York Stock Exchange concluded in scattered order on Friday, after the first results of companies, and at the end of an enthusiastic week driven by the decline in US inflation.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.33% to 34,509.03 points, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.18% to 14,113.70 points and the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.10% to 4,505.42 points.
Over the week, boosted by the good news on inflation which has slowed in the United States, the indices gained more than 2% for the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 and more than 3% for the Nasdaq.
“We are witnessing profit taking after the sharp rise” of the week “and it is perfectly normal, even healthy,” said Adam Sarhan, of 50 Park Investment, interviewed by AFP.
“It’s not a big step backwards and that in itself means the market remains bullish,” the analyst said.
A flurry of U.S. inflation data for June released this week — from the consumer price index to producer and import prices — showed that price growth has markedly stalled, as if the US central bank was beginning to win its fight against inflation. This is 3% over one year, according to the CPI index.
Favorable developments in inflation “are not enough to prevent Federal Reserve (Fed) officials from raising rates later this month, but it confirms our forecast that this July hike could be the last,” analysts at Oxford Economics said on Friday.
But nothing is less certain and “investors do not know what the Fed is going to do”, underlined for his part Adam Sarhan.
A governor of the Fed, Christopher Waller said again Thursday that he advocated for his part two new interest rate hikes.
“The market is therefore in a waiting mode, especially with the results of companies which are starting,” explained Mr. Sarhan.
The big US banks kicked off the quarterly earnings season on Friday with a cautious outlook for the coming months, despite strong second-quarter performances.
JPMorgan Chase (+0.64%), the largest American bank by asset size, and Wells Fargo (-0.30%) unveiled a surge in their results compared to the same period of 2022.
JPMorgan posted a net profit up 67% over one year thanks to the takeover of First Republic (+40% excluding this acquisition).
For Citigroup (-4.00%), the quarter was less lenient with a fall in its net profit (-36%).
Eli Lilly Laboratories were sought (+3.46%) after announcing the acquisition of Versanis, an unlisted group specializing in drugs against obesity, for 1.925 billion dollars.
On the bond market, rates rose to 3.82% for ten-year Treasury bills against 3.76% the day before.
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