(New York) The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Wednesday, tense by the lowering of the United States’ rating by the Fitch agency, which gives it the opportunity to breathe, after several weeks of euphoria.
Around 10:05 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones was down 0.54%, the NASDAQ index was down 1.36%, and the broader S
Fitch Ratings on Tuesday lowered the rating of the United States from AAA, the highest, to AA, worrying about the successive political crises around the budget and the debt, the high level of which also worries the agency. Financial evaluation.
“There doesn’t seem to be any new evidence behind this decision,” commented Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisors, “so it looks like the market is using it as an excuse to take a break.” »
First targeted by this movement, the giant capitalizations of the technology sector, rockets in the rating since the beginning of the year, from Nvidia (-3.00%) to Microsoft (-1.69%), via Meta (- 2.05%).
Before that, “traders already had in mind that stocks had risen too much, too fast, and were ripe for a correction,” Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com said in a note.
However, Fitch’s decision did not cause a stir. In the bond market, the yield on 10-year US government bonds tightened only slightly, to 4.09%, against 4.04% at the close the previous day.
Investors still consider that “the United States will not default on its debt”, and keep in mind that “the US Treasury market is the largest and most liquid in the world, pegged to the reference currency”. , the dollar, detailed Patrick O’Hare.
The trajectory of the New York market, in the red well before the opening, was not changed by the publication of the report by the ADP firm, according to which the American economy created 324,000 jobs in July.
This is almost double the 190,000 expected by economists.
The lack of reaction to this figure is partly explained by the fact that since a change in methodology, in August, the ADP data “are impossible to anticipate and prove to be very unreliable”, underlined, in a note, Ian Shepherdson, from Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The real benchmark for Wall Street will be the US government’s jobs report on Friday.
Despite the market’s pullback on Wednesday, Maris Ogg doesn’t see the correction continuing, “because company earnings tell us the economy is relatively strong,” an impression confirmed by most recent macro indicators.
On the stock market, semiconductor manufacturer AMD fell (-5.08%) despite results above consensus, and optimistic forecasts for the data storage center segment, driven by artificial intelligence.
Tesla was down sharply (-1.86%), after the announcement of an investigation by the United States Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) linked to reports of drivers claiming to have lost control of the steering wheel of their vehicle while driving. they were traveling on the road.
Italian automaker Ferrari (-0.94%), listed in New York, did not benefit from better than expected quarterly results and the increase in its forecast for the year. The new earnings projection is, however, only an alignment with those of analysts.
The agri-food group Kraft Heinz also fell (-1.07%) after missing the sales target set by the market. The group significantly increased its prices (11% year-on-year), but volumes fell, especially in the United States.
Starbucks was doing well despite falling short of expectations in the second quarter. While the international market has recorded significant growth, the average price per order has stalled, even falling in China.
