(New York) The New York Stock Exchange was moving slightly in the green on Thursday after a downward opening, still under the yoke of the irresistible rise in bond rates, which raise fears of a halt to American economic activity.
Around 10 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones was up 0.24%, the NASDAQ index was up 0.18% and the broader S index was up 0.18%.
“A lot of what’s happening right now has to do with risk aversion,” LBBW’s Karl Haeling said of volatility and tight margins. “It’s all about psychology, technical elements and dynamics”, more than fundamental factors, according to the analyst.
“Unsurprisingly, the stock market is on guard” at the start of the session, noted Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com in a note. “Operators are waiting to see,” in particular “what role bonds will play. »
The yield on the 10-year US government bond rose to 4.68% on Thursday, again a recent high, not seen in almost 16 years. Its equivalent at 30 years old touched 4.80%, a first in more than 13 years.
“Treasury bonds have fallen too much” (their price moves in the opposite direction to their rate), estimates Karl Haeling. “We are starting to see signs of exhaustion among sellers. »
The altitude that bond yields are reaching, including on long-term maturities, is putting more and more pressure on so-called growth stocks. Investors compare, in fact, the results projections of these companies to interest rates.
On Thursday, Amazo (-1.41%) was the worst-off of the tech giant stocks. The stock has lost nearly 15% since mid-September, partly due to legal action by the US Competition Authority, the FTC, which accuses it of monopolistic practices on its online sales platform .
Microsoft (-0.44%) and Apple (-0.37%), which with Amazon form the top three of the largest capitalizations on the NASDAQ, weighing a quarter of the index, were also in the red.
On the macroeconomic level, new weekly unemployment claims in the United States once again came out at a level considered low (204,000), lower than economists’ projections (215,000).
“Even if the job market is calming down, we still see very few layoffs,” noted Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics in a note.
Elsewhere on the stock market, semiconductor manufacturer Micron was struggling (-4.62%), with investors worried about a higher-than-expected loss forecast for the current quarter, even though the Boise group (Idaho) did better than expected in the previous quarter.
Micron has indicated that it is collaborating with Nvidia so that its chips can be used by the graphics card specialist, essential for so-called generative artificial intelligence.
Symbol of the wave of “meme stocks”, these actions propelled by small investors at the beginning of 2021, the video game store chain GameStop stood out (1.17%), after the appointment as general manager of the entrepreneur Ryan Cohen, appreciated by the community of small carriers.
The specialist in exercise bikes and connected treadmills Peloton accelerated (1.07%) after the announcement, Wednesday after the market, of a five-year partnership with sports equipment manufacturer Lululemon Athletica (0.01%), become a cultural reference for its yoga pants.
After initially seeking to compete with each other, the two houses will remain on their core business and sell their partner’s products.
The Accenture consulting group was penalized (-4.86%) for its quarterly turnover lower than analysts’ expectations and sales forecasts considered disappointing for the current quarter.
