(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Friday, driven by a renewed appetite for risk, after a bad streak and in the run-up to the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Posted at 9:42 a.m.
Updated at 4:52 p.m.
The Dow Jones rose by 0.80%, the NASDAQ index by 1.77% and the broader S&P 500 index by 1.26%.
The New York market put an end to a series of five negative sessions in a row for the S&P 500 on Friday.
Investors relied on the semiconductor sector to drive the market, notably Nvidia (+4.45%), AMD (+3.93%) and Qualcomm (+2.73%).
The movement extended to the entire AI (artificial intelligence) ecosystem, from the data analysis group Palantir (+6.25%) to the computer and server manufacturer Dell (+2.90%) .
What followed was a bargain hunt, which notably benefited the cable operator Charter Communications (+2.58%), the health insurer UnitedHealth (+1.68%) and the paints and coatings specialist Sherwin-Williams (+1.01%), new resident of the Dow Jones.
Also sought after were securities in the energy sector, supported by the recovery in oil prices, to their highest level in two and a half months.
Chevron (+0.78%) and ConocoPhillips (+1.01%) both ended up in the green.
The momentum even went further, to the point of carrying very volatile stocks like Tesla (+8.22%), Airbnb (+3.22%) or the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase (+5.23 %).
“I am surprised by these purchases, while bond rates have clearly tightened,” commented Jack Ablin, of Cresset Capital.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 4.60%, compared to 4.56% the day before at closing.
“It seems to go against logic in the short term, but it seems psychology wins in the short term,” observed Jack Ablin.
In addition to the technical rebound after a bad patch at the turn of the calendar year, the analyst attributes this surge to the approach of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States on January 20.
“Investors expect the new Trump administration to be pro-business,” he explained, citing as an illustration the jump in the Russell 2000 index, which includes 2,000 SMEs, companies generally sensitive to the evolution of bond rates.
Operators also received further confirmation of the good health of the American economy, with the PMI index from the ISM institute, which highlighted a resurgence of manufacturing activity in the United States in December. , the highest in nine months.
On the market, Boeing (-1.15%) received the announcement that a month after the rejection of the guilty plea agreement with the American government, the two parties have still not managed to agree on a new version.
Alcohol distributors and producers pushed back on Wall Street after the U.S. Surgeon General called for health warnings on alcoholic beverages to warn the public of cancer risks.
The beer giant, Anheuser-Busch, which notably owns the Stella Artois, Bud Light and Hoegaarden brands, lost 2.16%, while the American-Canadian brewer Molson Coors lost 3.37%.
Elsewhere on the stock table, U.S Steel fell (-6.53%) after US President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he was blocking the planned takeover of the big name in American steel by Japanese giant Nippon Steel , a very political decision which risks creating tensions with Tokyo.
General Motors was acclaimed (+0.78%) after reporting a 4% increase in sales last year, which allowed it to maintain its first place in the American market.
Ford did better (+2.38%), with a higher growth rate (+6%) than that of GM and Toyota, which nevertheless are ahead of it in the ranking.
At the same time, the electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian soared (+23.45%) on the strength of delivery figures above analysts’ expectations.
The Toronto Stock Exchange rises on Friday
The Canadian stock index rose on Friday, driven by the strength of technology and telecommunications stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 175.51 points at 25,073.54.
On the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at 69.24 US cents compared to 69.36 US cents on Thursday.
The Canadian Press
