(New York) The results of Nvidia which exploded expectations were not enough to keep the markets in the green Thursday, the hour being with caution before words of central bankers.
The American processor giant had set the bar high for its second quarter financial results, but far exceeded it with net profit multiplied by almost 10 over one year, to 6.2 billion.
After gaining more than 6% in early trading and approaching $500, Nvidia stock ended flat (0.10% at $471.63). But its value has multiplied by almost 3.25 since the beginning of the year.
“We thought that with the results, the best of the whole season, the market was going to take off, as in previous results, but we can see that it’s winded”, observes Frédérik Rozier, portfolio manager at Mirabaud.
Rising in the morning, the semiconductor sector in Europe finally ended down sharply, from Infineon (-2.49%) to STMicroelectronics (-2.48%).
On Wall Street, after opening sharply higher, the tech-tinged NASDAQ ended down 1.87%. THE
In Europe, stock market indices also turned around: Paris lost 0.44%, Milan 0.57%, Frankfurt 0.68%, with only London maintaining a gain of 0.18%.
Investors were now directing their gaze to Jackson Hole, in the United States, where the annual conference of central bankers begins on Thursday.
The biggest day is Friday, with speeches by Jerome Powell, the president of the American central bank (Fed), and Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Mr. Powell “has the opportunity […] possibly to prepare investors for the revision of the forecasts”, particularly in terms of the level of key rates “which is likely at the September meeting”, explains Sonia Meskin, head macroeconomist for the United States at BNY Mellon IM.
On the bond market, government interest rates rose a little in the United States and Europe after three sessions of sharp decline.
The aircraft manufacturer Boeing (-4.93%) announced that it had identified a defect on an element of the 737 MAX which will again disrupt deliveries of its flagship aircraft.
The entire airline sector was in difficulty, especially airlines with -2.78% for United Airlines, but also in Europe with -2.11% for Lufthansa in Frankfurt.
The Turkish lira benefited from the decision of the Central Bank to drastically raise its key rates, from 17.5% to 25%, a measure that investors dared not wait after having been disappointed many times.
It soared more than 6% against the dollar, to 25.65 pounds to the dollar around 1:45 p.m. (Eastern time).
A sign of investor caution, the dollar was in demand against other currencies: it gained 0.51% against the euro, at 1.0809 dollars for one euro, and 1.02% against the pound at 1, 2597 pound for one dollar.
Bitcoin also lost 2.16% to $26,018 and gold rose 0.27% to $1,920.63 an ounce.
Oil prices hovered around the balance to finally end very slightly positive. A barrel of Brent North Sea oil, for October delivery, rose 0.18% to $83.36. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery the same month, gleaned 0.20% to 79.05 dollars.
European natural gas fell sharply as the union at a major Australian gas field reached a tentative agreement with energy giant Woodside, ruling out the possibility of a strike in Australia disrupting liquefied natural gas supply.
The benchmark European contract fell 13.8% to 31.70 euros per megawatt hour, while it approached 45 euros on Tuesday.
