Wall Street ignores US GDP and closes with gains


Wall Street closed higher on Thursday after a strong quarterly report from Meta Platforms lifted growth and technology stocks, offsetting concerns about the US economy contracting in the first quarter.

Facebook’s parent company rose after the social network reported a larger-than-expected profit on Wednesday and recovered from a drop in users.

The communication services and technology sectors were among the strongest of the 11 S&P 500 sector indices, gaining 4.04% and 3.89%, respectively.

Apple, the world’s most valuable company (4.52%) and e-commerce giant Amazon (4.65%) rose ahead of their quarterly reports. But in after-hours trading, Amazon shares fell 9%, after reporting lower-than-expected sales for the current quarter.

The S&P 500 gained 2.47% to 4,287.50 while the NASDAQ Composite rose 3.06% to 12,871.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.85% to 33,916.39 units.

unusual day

Wall Street rose even after the US Commerce Department said in a flash estimate that gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 1.4% last quarter.

But in the year the S&P 500 loses 10.04%; the NASDAQ falls 17.72%, and the Dow Jones falls 6.66 percent.

Investors have been dumping high-growth stocks for weeks amid concerns about inflation, rising interest rates and a possible economic slowdown.

Even with Thursday’s strong gain, the NASDAQ has lost almost 10% in April, on track for its deepest monthly drop since March 2020.

“When interest rates, the path of inflation and what the Fed is going to do are so volatile, it means valuing all other assets is more difficult,” said Zach Hill, Head of Portfolio Strategy at Horizon Investments. .

The US economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter as Covid-19 cases rose again and government aid funds dwindled.

Tech companies boosted the NASDAQ with Apple reporting record sales and earnings in the fiscal second quarter that beat Wall Street estimates, thanks to its handling of chip shortages and consumers buying new iPhones. .

Sales increased 19% in the Americas and single digits in Europe and China.

The Silicon Valley-based iPhone maker, the world’s largest company by market capitalization, aims to keep demand high for its smartphone and other devices while increasing sales of services such as subscriptions. of music and video.

Apple’s chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, cited “continued strong demand for our products” and record service sales in a statement.

Apple’s global revenue in the fiscal second quarter was $97.3 billion, up 8.6% from a year ago.

Earning was $25 billion, or $1.52 a share, and far exceeded analyst expectations of $23.2 billion and $1.43 a share.

However, new lockdowns in China and Taiwan, where many parts and iPhones are made, could bring new headwinds in terms of supply and demand in the current quarter.

For its part, Amazon forecast that its sales for the current quarter will be below Wall Street projections, due to a pause in discretionary spending by customers due to economic uncertainties and stiff competition in its cloud business.

Shares of the company fell 9% in regular after-hours trading after it also reported a net loss on its investment in automaker Rivian.

The world’s largest online retailer projected net sales of between $116 billion and $121 billion for the second quarter of the year.

Net sales reached $116.4 billion in the first quarter, compared with analyst expectations of $116.3 billion, according to Refinitiv.

The net loss was $3.8 billion, or $7.56 a share, compared with a profit of $8.1 billion, or $15.79 a share, a year earlier.

BMV and Biva won

The Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) closed the negotiations this Thursday with a moderate advance, after a day of volatile movements. The stock market was boosted by strong gains in its US peers, which allowed it to end a streak of six consecutive falls.

The main index of the BMV, the S&P/BMV IPC, had a slight gain of 0.5% to close at a level of 52,614.17 units, thus ending a streak of five consecutive falls, a period in which it lost 4.18 percent.

The FTSE BIVA index, the main index of the Institutional Stock Exchange, gained 0.54% to 1,089.75 units, after five falls in a row, where it lost 4.06 percent.

Within the reference index, most of the components ended the day in positive territory, with 22 values ​​in green and 13 in red.

The advances were led by Cemex, with 5.96%, after its report; the airports GAP and Asur, with 4.17 and 3.61%, and the developer of industrial parks Vesta, with 3.18 percent. (With information from Agencies)

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