The Dow Jones (Wall Street) opened slightly lower 0.30% to 24,521 points this afternoon after ending Monday on a rise of 3.85%. The S&P 500 is down 0.35% to 2942 points (US 500), and the Nasdaq is almost stable at 9236 points (US Tech 100).
The New York Stock Exchange puts a stop to the enthusiasm of recent days as tensions between China and the United States continue.
A few days after announcing new restrictions on Huawei’s foreign suppliers, President Donald Trump threatened this night to leave the World Health Organization and to permanently freeze American aid, suspended since mid-April, if the latter was not “reforming” in the next 30 days.
WHO at the heart of the China-US standoff
Posted on Twitter, a letter to its president Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lists a long list of grievances against the organization, with Donald Trump essentially accusing it of having covered China in its opaque management of the coronavirus during the first weeks of the epidemic.
« It is clear that the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have cost the world dearly. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is to be able to prove its independence from China », Writes the American president.
Beijing was quick to respond to these accusations. His Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Donald Trump ” to want to smear Beijing by blaming the coronavirus pandemic and demanding major reforms from the WHO , Suggesting that the tenant of the White House was trying to blame China for offloading its own responsibility in its domestic handling of the pandemic.
Contrasting data for the ZEW
In terms of statistics, the ZEW, the German economic sentiment index, which measures the confidence of investors and industrialists in their business over a 6-month horizon, emerged up sharply in May at 51, well above the consensus at 32. But the current situation sub-index dipped to -95.5, putting up a stark contrast between hopes for a quick recovery in the economy and the current reality. On these ambiguous results, the EUR / USD pair jumped to $ 1.0976 to stabilize this afternoon below $ 1.095 (+ 0.3%).
In the USA, the construction sector of the month of April accused the coup of containment : Building permits fell 20.8% and housing starts fell 30.2%, an all-time high.
Jerome Powell Hearing
The first part of the Wall Street session will be punctuated from 4 p.m. by a hearing of Jerome Powell in the US Senate. Along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Jerome Powell will report on the first results of the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act), the Fed’s and government emergency program to fight the coronavirus crisis.
According to Ian Katz, analyst at Capital Alpha Partners interviewed by Market Watch, senators should probably demand from the president of the Fed an extension of his program of loans to SMEs and American municipalities, in particular by lowering the borrowing floor (currently $ 500,000) and opening its scope to NGOs .
Stocks to watch on the Dow Jones
At the start of the session, bank stocks moved without direction: American Express Co (All Sessions) was stable, but Goldman Sachs Group Inc (All sessions) gained 0.6% and JPMorgan Chase & Co (All sessions) rose 0, 24%. The latter has granted more than 30 billion loans to 250,000 companies as part of the PPP support plan set up to support the American economy in the face of the consequences of the coronavirus.
Walt Disney Co (All Sessions) contracts 1.7%. The president of his Disney + streaming platform was poached by TikTok, the video application owned by Chinese Bytedance Technology.
Home Depot Inc (All Sessions) American leader in DIY stores, loses 3% after publishing quarterly results below expectations and having suspended its 2020 targets due to uncertainties related to Covid-19.
The supermarket giant Walmart For its part, it posted quarterly earnings and sales above consensus, as well as 74% growth in online sales in the United States. The title climbed 2.1%.
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