(New York) The New York Stock Exchange, which initially opened divided on Friday, opted for green for the last session of the month, digesting a flurry of corporate earnings and US inflation news.
Around 10:45 a.m., the Dow Jones index was nibbling 0.38% and the broader S index
The day before, the New York indices had concluded the session sharply higher, driven by the good results of Meta. The Dow Jones gained 1.57% to 33,791 points, the NASDAQ gained 2.43% to 13,199 points and the S
The indices were driven by the rebound of Intel (6.23%) and the leader in construction machinery Caterpillar (1.48%).
But banking uncertainties were back in the spotlight, with regional bank First Republic Bank suspended from trading after another 23% plunge to $4.75.
On the macro front and ahead of a crucial US central bank meeting next week, inflation, as measured by the Fed’s favored PCE index, has provided mixed indications.
Admittedly, it slowed to 4.2% over one year in March against 5.1% the month before, which is good news.
However, the markets were more focused on underlying inflation (excluding energy and food) which continued to rise over the month (0.3% as in February) and only slowed by a tenth of a point over one year to 4 .6% vs. 4.7%.
Another small downside in the figures from the Ministry of Labor, household spending stagnated, signaling that consumption is running out of steam, and the quarterly employment cost index rose 1.2% against 1.1 % foreseen.
For Gregory Daco, economist for Parthenon-Ernst and Young, “the consumption engine is coughing.”
Today’s data on inflation, consumer and employment costs “will definitely keep the Fed on track for a 25 basis point rate hike on fed funds at the next meeting,” scheduled for Tuesday. May 2 and 3, he added.
Chicago’s industrial region’s business index (PMI) was a little heartwarming, rising 4.8 points to 48.6 points in March, its highest level since August but still in recession since below 50 points.
In terms of corporate results, Amazon stock lost 3.92% to $105.50 despite a first quarter that beat expectations with sales up 9% year-on-year to $127.3 billion.
But it was on the turnover of its subsidiary AWS dedicated to remote computing (cloud) that investors focused their judgment. The company saw revenue decline quarter over quarter as “customers continue to look for ways to optimize their cloud spend,” management said.
Snap, parent company of social network Snapchat, plunged 19% after reporting lower-than-expected first quarter revenue, despite an increase in the number of daily users.
Snap’s quarterly sales fell 7% to $989 million.
The group suffered a quarterly net loss of $329 million, slightly less than the loss incurred over the same period in 2022.
Exxon-Mobil was up 2.00% around 10:45 a.m. EST as the U.S. oil and gas giant said it had doubled its profits in the first three months of the year despite falling oil prices. hydrocarbons compared to the same period in 2022.
With lower energy prices year-on-year, its total revenue fell 4% to $86.6 billion.
Rival Chevron gained 0.19% after its net profit rose thanks to good refining margins. But its quarterly revenue fell 7% to $50.8 billion.
