(New York) The New York Stock Exchange opened in disorganized fashion on Thursday, torn between, on the one hand, a technology sector propelled by the ambitious forecasts of the giant Nvidia, and on the other, the rest of the gloomy and worried market. a possible default of payment by the United States.
Around 10 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones was down 0.08%, the NASDAQ index was up 1.28%, and the broader S
The NASDAQ was propelled by Nvidia, which published Wednesday, after the stock market, results above expectations, but above all astronomical forecasts for its second quarter, which would constitute a 64% increase in its turnover.
The title gained 25.48%, which allowed the company to approach the symbolic threshold of one trillion dollars (947 billion), a very closed circle which has only five members in the world for the moment.
Little known to the general public, the group from Santa Clara (California) specializes in graphics cards (GPUs), processors initially dedicated to images, but which are now used by all the major players in artificial intelligence (AI) in the world. because of their computational skills.
“These forecasts are a shock […] that show the historic demand for AI from both the business and consumer side,” commented Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
The explosion catapulted all the values of the AI leaders, from Microsoft (2.23%) to Alphabet (1.85%) via the data analysis specialist Palantir (4.33%) or the semiconductor manufacturer AMD (9.45%).
“The big-cap tech stocks are moving forward and the rest of the market is lagging behind,” observed Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
“So you have a part of the market that’s got the wind at its back with AI and everything that can happen in this universe, and the other part that’s worried about the debt ceiling,” insisted the manager.
With the exception of new economy stocks and banks, virtually all of the Dow Jones members were in the red.
A week away from a possible default by the United States, no major progress has yet been made between the White House and the Republican opposition in Congress.
On Wednesday evening, financial ratings agency Fitch placed the US rating on negative watch, meaning it is considering downgrading it.
Very short-term US bond rates continued their irresistible rise, a sign of a disengagement of investors who fear not being repaid.
As bond prices move in the opposite direction to their rates, a fall in their prices raises their yield.
US Treasuries due June 6 climbed to an alarming 7.20% on Wednesday, as the US central bank’s (Fed) policy rate is currently between 5.00% and 5.00% .25%.
Another factor of tension on rates, the succession of macroeconomic indicators above expectations, which depicts an American economy which refuses to bow down.
The new weekly jobless claims thus came out below forecasts and the growth estimate for the first quarter was revised upwards, to 1.3% at an annual rate, against 1.1% so far.
A table that supports the thesis of maintaining rates at a high level by the Fed in the coming months.
Operators now give a probability of more than 40% to the hypothesis of a rate at least as high as today at the end of 2023, whereas they did not even consider it a month ago.
On the stock market, the chain of electronics stores Best Buy gained height (3.63%) after publishing quarterly net profit above expectations and confirming its forecasts for the full year. Managing Director Corie Barry nevertheless acknowledged that “customers (were) being cautious and (making) trade-offs” in their purchases.
The chain of low-cost supermarkets Dollar Tree stalled (-15.06%), it, after having lowered its projections of annual net profit, due to “pressures which affect all the distribution”, but also the increase in shoplifting.
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