Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 2, 2025, in New York. (AFP / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)
The New York Stock Exchange closed lower on Thursday, with losses in large technology stocks weighing on the entire market, while investors remain wait-and-see before Donald Trump's return to the White House on Monday.
The Dow Jones lost 0.16%, the Nasdaq index dropped 0.89% and the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.21%.
Wall Street “adopts an attitude quite similar to what we have seen over the last two weeks, namely that the technology sector weighs on the rest of the market”, commented to AFP Christopher Low, of FHN Financial.
The “Magnificent Seven”, the nickname given to the big names in the technology sector, all declined, like Alphabet (-1.30%), Amazon (-1.20%), Nvidia (-1.92 %), Tesla (-3.36%), Microsoft (-0.41%) and Meta (-0.94%).
Apple was the hardest hit company in the sector (-4.04%), weighed down by data released Thursday showing that the company lost its top spot in China's smartphone market, giving way to two of its competitors in the People's Republic.
The California-based firm occupied 15% of the market in the world's second largest economy in 2024, placing itself behind its Chinese rivals Huawei (16%) and Vivo (17%), according to industrial data published by the market research firm. Canalys.
The American market also took a break after its surge the day before, waiting before Donald Trump's return to the White House on Monday and awaiting details on the implementation of the inflationary policies desired by the Republican, particularly on customs duties. .
During the American presidential campaign, Mr. Trump indicated that he wanted to impose 10 to 20% customs duties on all products entering the United States, and even up to 60% or even 100% on those coming from China.
“There remains great uncertainty…about how aggressively he will apply tariffs and how quickly he can tackle spending and regulatory issues,” Low said. .
In terms of indicators, investors digested the retail sales figure for the month of December, which came out lower than expected, up 0.4% while analysts were counting on +0.5%, according to the published consensus. by MarketWatch.
Concerning the employment figures, the number of new unemployed is slightly above forecasts, at 217,000 compared to 210,000 expected by analysts.
Bond rates continued to ease on Thursday, with the yield on ten-year US government bonds settling at 4.61% compared to 4.65% the day before at close.
Elsewhere on the stock market, banks finished in disarray despite the publication of quarterly results generally above market expectations.
Bank of America lost ground (-0.98%). The bank announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter results Thursday morning, thanks to fees earned in asset management, investment banking and brokerage.
For its part, Morgan Stanley gained speed (+4.03%) after obtaining sharply increasing results in the fourth quarter, clearly above expectations, boosted by the ramp-up in equity activities.
The UnitedHealth group, second weighting in the Dow Jones, fell significantly (-6.04%). The company, which published its quarterly results on Thursday, suffered in particular from medical costs considered too high and from a turnover below expectations.
The American health system “needs to be less confusing, less complex and less expensive,” admitted the group's big boss Andrew Witty during an online conference with investors.
The group was shaken on the stock market after the assassination of the boss of its health insurance branch, Brian Thompson, in New York at the beginning of December.
Nasdaq
Related News :