Wall Street plunges into the red on Friday for one of its very last sessions of a year 2024 which is nevertheless prosperous since the American market is on the verge of signing annual gains of more than 20% for the second time.
About an hour and a half after the opening, the Dow Jones index dropped more than 0.9% to 42,916.7 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1% to 19,589.5 points.
Over the week shortened due to Christmas festivities, the Dow recorded a limited decline of around 0.1%, while the Nasdaq posted a symbolic gain of 0.1%.
The major New York indices – which have continued to break record after record this year – should nevertheless end the year with positive performances.
Since the start of the year, the Dow Jones has increased by 15% and the Nasdaq by more than 33%.
After gaining nearly 22% last year, the S&P 500 has so far gained more than 25% over the entire year, a second consecutive year marked by gains of more than 20%.
The communications sector (Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, etc.) particularly stood out with a surge of more than 42%, followed by the technology sector (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, etc.) with a jump of 40%. .
The solidity of the American economic situation, the enthusiasm for stocks linked to generative AI and the fall in interest rates have fueled the progress of Wall Street this year despite valuations considered increasingly tense.
In the bond market, government bond yields are little changed despite concerns surrounding the trajectory of the Fed’s monetary easing, fueled by better-than-expected jobless claims figures released yesterday.
That of ten-year Treasuries, the main benchmark for government bond markets, remains generally stable at around 4.57%.
The dollar gives up a little ground against the euro, which takes the opportunity to rise to contact 1.0440, suffering from the prospect of a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year.
The weakness of the dollar at the same time favors the prices of raw materials, oil in the lead.
The February contract on a barrel of American light crude oil (WTI) rose 0.8% to $70.2 while awaiting the release, at lunchtime, of oil stocks in the United States.
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