New York (awp/afp) – The stock markets maintained their February momentum on Friday, after a burst of data on inflation and the level of economic activity, in Europe and the United States.
In New York, like the day before, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices recorded new closing records, gaining 1.14% and 0.80% respectively. The Dow Jones gained 0.23%.
In Europe, the financial markets ended up, with the German Dax index even beating its closing record for the eighth consecutive day.
Frankfurt gained 0.32%, London gained 0.69% and Paris gained 0.09%.
Over the week, only the German Dax was in the green, with Paris and London losing less than 0.5%.
The session was led by the latest macroeconomic data, “which indicate that the Fed (American central bank) could have more reasons to reduce its rate in May”, while operators had until now been counting on June, estimated Sam Stovall of CFRA.
The ISM index of activity in the manufacturing sector in the United States fell to 47.8% in February, against 49.1% in January, well below the 49.5% announced by economists.
The two other figures of the day also disappointed, whether the consumer confidence index measured by the University of Michigan or construction spending, which fell by 0.2% over one month in January.
On the European markets, the day was mainly marked by the publication of inflation in the euro zone. This continued to decline in February, sending a positive signal, but probably still insufficient to reassure the European Central Bank (ECB), which is delaying before lowering its interest rates. The institution meets on March 7.
In February, the increase in consumer prices returned to 2.6% over one year, or 0.2 points less than in January, but this decline was a little less marked than what was anticipated by the economists.
Nvidia is worth 2000 billion
The superstar of the stock market, Nvidia, jumped 4%, closing above the $2 trillion market valuation, a club frequented only by Microsoft, Apple and the oil company Saudi Aramco.
The entire semiconductor industry was celebrated, whether AMD (+5.25%), Broadcom (+7.59%), Intel (+1.79%) or Qualcomm (+3 .36%).
Volkswagen disappoints
The German car manufacturer Volkswagen (-4.93%) achieved an operating profit up slightly by 2.1% last year, weighed down by exceptional charges, the group announced in a press release. Operating profit (EBIT) represents a margin of 7% on sales, compared to 7.9% in 2022.
Affected by negative effects of hedging on raw materials amounting to 3.2 billion euros, Volkswagen had already announced in the third quarter a downward revision of its margin targets for 2023.
American regional banks under pressure
The regional credit institution New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) fell by 25.89% after reporting, Thursday, after the market, failures in its internal control and the resignation of its general manager.
NYCB’s setbacks have affected other regional banks with strong exposure to commercial real estate, which the emergence of teleworking has put in difficulty. Valley National Bancorp (-2.08%), based in New Jersey, and Columbia Banking System (-1.27%), present in the western United States, ended up in the red.
WTI above $80
Oil prices surged on Friday to bring the price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) above $80, a first since November, on a market that was back to buying with the start of a new month.
The price of WTI for delivery in April closed at $79.77, up 1.92%. Earlier, it rose as high as $80.85, a busier height since November 7.
The barrel of Brent from the North Sea with maturity in May, which was the first day of use as a reference contract, recorded a one-month high and ended with a gain of 2.00%, at $83.55.
On the currency side, the euro gained 0.31% against the greenback, to 1.0839 dollars per euro, stable compared to the previous Friday.
Bitcoin gained 2.53% to $62,692, a surge of more than 20% over the week which allowed it to get a little closer to its peak of November 2021 ($68,991).
On the bond market, the interest rates of States in Europe on the ten-year loan remained stable, while in the United States they fell.
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2024-03-01 22:09:06
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