(New York) The New York Stock Exchange ended in the green on Thursday with new records for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones, concluding a very good quarter for Wall Street, on the eve of a long holiday weekend.
The Dow Jones index advanced 0.12% to 39,807.37 points and the broader S&P 500 index advanced 0.11% to 5254.35 points, enough to record new highs on 22e since the start of the year for the S&P.
The technology-dominated NASDAQ lost 0.12% to 16,379.46 points.
Wall Street will be closed Friday to observe the Good Friday holiday.
Since the start of the year, the S&P 500, the most representative index of the market, has increased by more than 10% and recorded 18 weekly gains in 22 weeks, indicated Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management at AFP.
This is the best growth for this index since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Dow Jones, with an increase of more than 5.5% over the first three months of the year, posted its strongest rate of growth since 2021. The NASDAQ is up more than 9%.
“We continued to climb higher but a pause is possible shortly,” warned Art Hogan.
In a sparse market, the upward revision of US GDP growth in the last quarter of 2023 reinforced the positive market mood.
The expansion of the gross domestic product of the United States was revised slightly upwards, to 3.4% annualized against 3.2% previously announced, according to the latest estimate from the Commerce Department.
The positive revision reflects stronger consumer spending, momentum that has led some analysts like OxfordEconomics’ Ryan Sweet to push the prospect of a rate cut to June instead of May.
In the same vein, a Fed governor, Christopher Waller, estimated Wednesday evening that it was urgent to wait before initiating a reduction in key rates as long as the data relating to inflation do not show “a trajectory sustained” towards the 2% objective.
“We have had a lot of progress in reducing inflation over the past year, but the data over the last two months has been disappointing,” he said.
The dollar, in particular, gained ground (+0.39% against the euro at 4:15 p.m. Eastern time) “due to a reduction in expectations of rate cuts from the Fed”, underlined José Torres of Interactive Brokers.
Another indicator showing the vitality of the American economy, consumer confidence measured by the University of Michigan has risen, showing a jump of 3.3% to the highest since July 2021 to 79.4 points in March.
On the market, the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase gained 3.28%, while the world of cryptoassets lived on Thursday to the rhythm of the conclusion of the trial of the former pope of cryptocurrencies Sam Bankman-Fried.
Accused of extensive fraud, SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison in federal court in New York on Thursday.
The social network Reddit, introduced to Wall Street last week at a price of $34 per share, plunged 14.61% to $49.30 after leaders of the forum massively sold shares.
Intelligence analytics company Palantir fell 6.12% after a less favorable analyst rating.
The chain of pharmacies and drugstores Walgreens increased by 3.19%. The group announced sales in the second quarter that were stronger than expected, but the chain recorded a loss after a charge of $5.8 billion, to compensate for the devaluation of its purchase of VillageMD clinics.
AMC movie theaters fell 14.29% to $3.72 while the chain will sell $250 million worth of shares in order to repay debt in particular.
On the bond market, rates were almost stable at 4.20% for ten-year Treasury bills.
The Toronto Stock Exchange is on the rise
The main Canadian stock index climbed on Thursday before the Easter long weekend, while American stock markets had a mixed session at the conclusion of a quarter having set new highs.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 59.95 points to 22,167.03.
The Canadian dollar stood at 73.80 US cents, up from 73.60 US cents on Wednesday.
reference: www.lapresse.ca