(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended without direction on Friday, but the NASDAQ still managed to set a fifth consecutive record, triumphing over the prevailing weariness, thanks to the technology giants.
The NASDAQ gained 0.12%, while Dow Jones and S
“The market only moves forward because of technology,” said CFRA’s Sam Stovall. “We’re on board a jet that only has one engine running.”
The NASDAQ was thus able to rely on a handful of stocks related to generative artificial intelligence (AI), a sector that all investors want to be in.
In the lead, the semiconductor designer Nvidia (1.75%), which is now only a breath away from the title of world largest capitalization.
On the evening of this last trading day of the week, the Santa Clara (California) group posted a market valuation of $3,244 billion, close to Apple (3,258) and Microsoft (3,289).
Between them, these American technological flagships represent almost 10% of the world’s stock market capitalization, adding up all the securities listed on the planet.
Apple (-0.82%) partially owed its poor performance today to press reports according to which the European Commission is preparing to open litigation proceedings against the Apple firm for breaching the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA) .
The generative AI label also made Alphabet (0.92%), Broadcom (3.34%) and Adobe (14.51%) attractive.
The latter published results above expectations, supported in particular by the integration of generative AI into its products. The creative and professional software publisher also raised its annual objectives.
But behind these few very tall trees, the forest looked gray.
“If things don’t change,” given investors’ willingness to diversify, “we’re probably going to be entitled to a decline of 5% or more” in the short term, warns Sam Stovall.
Within the Dow Jones, the industrial sector particularly suffered on Friday, like Caterpillar (-1.50%), 3m (-0.65%) and Dow (-1.86%). These values are called cyclical, which means that they are sensitive to the economic situation.
However, certain indicators question operators about the nature of the current economic slowdown in the United States.
Already deprived of energy, New York has recently welcomed the University of Michigan’s survey on consumer morale.
The confidence index fell to 65.6 points in June, the lowest in 7 months and down from May when economists were expecting a rebound.
“Consumer mood is deteriorating, probably due to inflation fatigue and the prospect of not seeing rate cuts in the short term,” commented Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics in a note.
These figures “disappointed investors, who said that the time had come to digest the recent gains”, according to Sam Stovall.
Economic uncertainty has also affected the bond market. The yield on US 10 government bonds fell to its lowest level in two and a half months, at 4.18%, compared to 4.24% the day before.
On the stock market, Tesla (-2.44%) digested the validation, in the general meeting, of the massive remuneration plan of its general director and reference shareholder, Elon Musk, valued at just under $50 billion.
Boeing (-1.90%) failed to halt its decline (-0.95%), after reporting on Thursday that fasteners were insufficiently tightened on elements of 787 Dreamliners awaiting delivery.
The setbacks keep coming for the aircraft manufacturer, whose stock has lost more than 31% since the start of the year.