(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended scattered around the balance on Wednesday: after starting in the green, the indices ended without trend the penultimate session of a month with a strong rise for stocks.
The Dow Jones gained 0.04% to 35,430.42 points while the technology-dominated NASDAQ lost 0.16% to 14,258.49 points and the S
“We haven’t really moved in these last few sessions,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, referring to the lack of persuasiveness of the indices since the start of the week.
“The market is digesting the movements of November,” added the analyst as the indices prepare to sign their best month of the year on Thursday.
The Dow Jones is up almost 8% in November, the NASDAQ is up more than 11% and the S
“Given where we come from, it would take a much stronger catalyst to push stocks higher,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management to AFP.
The bond market has further relaxed with ten-year rates falling to 4.25%, unprecedented for almost three months. Bond rates are reacting to the idea that a first rate reduction from the Fed could come as early as May.
This scenario was fueled in particular by the comments of Fed Governor Christopher Waller the day before, showing himself to be more conciliatory and optimistic about the trajectory of inflation reaching the 2% target.
On the macroeconomic front, the U.S. government revised third-quarter U.S. economic growth upward to 5.2% annualized, up from 4.9% previously estimated.
“These numbers show that the U.S. economy was booming in the third quarter despite higher interest rates […]. But fourth-quarter activity should not be as robust,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.
Indeed, the Beige Book published mid-session showed that activity “slowed down” at the end of October and beginning of November. The Fed report shows that eight of the twelve regions are stagnating or declining and that price increases are moderating.
On Thursday, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the PCE index, will be released for the month of October.
“I expect few surprises,” while an increase over the month of 0.2% is expected for the PCE index excluding food and energy, said Steve Sosnick. “On the other hand, if there is a surprise, it will change the scenario and move the markets,” he promised.
On the stock market, General Motors shone (9.38% to 31.60 dollars) after showing that it was going to pamper its shareholders while its stock has had a mediocre performance since the start of the year.
Despite the liability incurred with the impact of the six-week strike ($1.1 billion), the automaker committed to a $10 billion stock buyback plan.
The group, which also announced slightly lower than expected profit projections of between $9.1 and $9.7 billion for 2023, will increase its dividend by 33%.
Speculation reared its head with a jump of more than 20% ($16.25) in the highly volatile GameStop stock, a week before the video game distributor announced its results.
Shoe retailer Foot Locker saw its stock rise 16% as the retailer beat expectations for its third-quarter results and annual guidance.
Bank stocks seemed to benefit from the decline in bond rates like Bank of America (2.94%) or Citigroup (1.98%).