The New York Stock Exchange ended slightly higher on Thursday, with the Nasdaq being the only index to emerge from the ambient 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 gained 0.09%, the Nasdaq index gained 0.30% and the broader S&P 500 index gained 0.09%. The Nasdaq is just a breath away from its all-time high at the close.
“The market was off to a pretty good start, but it erased almost all of its gains,” noted Sam Stovall, CFRA analyst. “He is reluctant to take a direction before the publication of the PCE index.”
The PCE price index for May is due to be released on Friday before the New York Stock Exchange opens. It is the inflation indicator most closely followed by the US central bank (Fed). It is expected to be stable over one month, after increasing by 0.3% in April.
“A PCE reading that is in line with expectations or weaker than expected would be positive,” Stovall said. “It would instill the idea that the Fed is going to cut 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 stood out (+2.19%), as it did the day before, helped by a note from Bank of America, which highlighted the potential for improvement in the group’s supply chain.
The online commerce giant was also buoyed by press information according to which Amazon is preparing to launch a new platform on its e-commerce site, dedicated to low-cost fashion, to compete with the 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.
Also shining were the creative and professional software group Adobe (+3.42%) and Meta (+1.26%).
The movement was offset by a slackening of semiconductors, whether Nvidia (-1.91%), Qualcomm (-1.10%) and especially Micron (-7.12%), punished despite results above 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, partly due to slower activity in the United States.
Managing director Tim Wentworth said the group planned to close a significant number of stores, without specifying the number.
Walgreens’ main competitor, CVS Health Corporation, was swept away by the wave (-3.74%).
