The New York Stock Exchange ended slightly higher on Thursday, with the Nasdaq being the only index to emerge from the prevailing lethargy thanks to a handful of technological stocks, in a market already geared towards the publication of an indicator of inflation on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.09%, the Nasdaq Index gained 0.30% and the broader S&P 500 Index gained 0.09%. The Nasdaq is now just a breath away from its all-time closing record.
“The market had a pretty good start, but it’s erased almost all of its gains,” said CFRA analyst Sam Stovall. “It’s reluctant to take a direction before the PCE is released.”
The PCE price index for May is due to be released Friday before the New York Stock Exchange opens. It is the inflation indicator most followed by the American central bank (Fed). It is expected to be stable over one month, after having increased by 0.3% in April.
“A PCE in line with expectations or lower than expected would be positive,” says Sam Stovall. “It would instill the idea that the Fed will lower rates in the near future.”
The day’s indicators all depicted a slower economy, a prerequisite for curbing inflation.
The latest estimate of U.S. growth for the first quarter came in slightly above the previous one, at 1.4% annualized, “but still indicates that economic growth is slowing,” said Chris Zaccarelli, an analyst at Independent Advisor Alliance.
Furthermore, orders for durable goods increased by 0.1% in the United States in May over a month, but excluding transport, they fell by 0.1%, operators noted, which indicates a slowdown in investment, underlined Bernard Yaros, analyst at Oxford Economics.
As for new unemployment registrations in the United States, they have fallen slightly, but the market has mainly noted the increase in the stock of registered people, at its highest since November 2021.
On the stock market, most sectors finished in the red, with the exception of technology.
Amazon did well (+2.19%), like the day before, helped by a note from Bank of America, which highlights the potential for improvement in the group’s supply chain.
The online retail giant was also buoyed by press reports that Amazon is preparing to launch a new platform on its e-commerce site, dedicated to low-cost fashion, to compete with Chinese groups Temu and Shein.
Amazon’s passage, on Wednesday, above the symbolic threshold of 2,000 billion dollars of capitalization also gave a boost to the stock.
The creative and professional software group Adobe (+3.42%) and Meta (+1.26%) also shone.
The movement was offset by a relaxation of semiconductors, whether Nvidia (-1.91%), Qualcomm (-1.10%) and especially Micron (-7.12%), sanctioned despite results higher than the expectations.
Some analysts saw the group’s forecasts as timid, judging the investments insufficient in relation to the demand for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).
The New York market has been urged to be cautious by several poor publications.
Jeans legend Levi Strauss (-15.40%) paid dearly for a turnover lower than expectations and forecasts considered disappointing. The group has decided to discontinue its low-cost Denizen brand and limit promotions to restore its margins, but this is affecting its short-term growth.
The pharmacy and drugstore group Walgreens Boots Alliance (WGA) did worse (-22.16%) after missing the target for its quarterly result and lowering its annual objectives, due in part to slowed activity in the States. -United.
Chief executive Tim Wentworth said the group planned to close a significant number of stores, without specifying how many.
Walgreens’ main competitor, CVS Health Corporation, was swept away by the wave (-3.74%).
Nasdaq
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