The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Thursday, waiting ahead of the publication of the monthly US employment report on Friday, as a new indicator added to the gloom over the state of the economy.
Around 2:10 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones yielded 0.36%, the Nasdaq index dropped 0.29% and the broader S&P 500 index, 0.27%.
The trajectory of index futures fell after the US Department of Labor reported 228,000 new jobless claims last week, well above the 200,000 expected by economists.
In addition, the US government has significantly increased the figures for the previous period, from 198,000 to 246,000.
“This lends credence to the hypothesis that the rate hikes by the Fed (US central bank) are starting to cool the labor market and slow the economy,” commented Chris Zaccarelli of the Independent Advisor Alliance.
The indicator has brought a new touch of gray to those already painted since the beginning of the week, from the bad figures of American trade to those of activity in industry and services, in full deceleration.
“It’s been a weird week,” Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments pointed out, with the most important macroeconomic event, the monthly jobs report for March, due Friday, a US holiday (Good Friday). ) when the markets will be closed.
“On a day like today, traders are not really inclined to take a lot of risk,” explained the manager. “So I expect a calm session”, before a three-day weekend.
In the bond market, movement was also limited, although yields continued to fall on growing concerns about the trajectory of the US economy.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 3.28%, against 3.31% the day before closing. Earlier it fell to 3.24%, its lowest level in seven months.
Wall Street is all the more wait-and-see as next week will see the start of the earnings season, with a volley of banks on Friday. A publication all the more followed as it comes a month after the start of the banking crisis.
Adam Sarhan notes that with the crisis and the series of disappointing indicators, “the market had every reason to let go, but it held”. The S&P 500 thus remained on Wednesday above all the major technical thresholds followed by analysts.
“We are at a crossroads”, according to the manager, the New York place preparing to choose a clear direction in the weeks to come, according to him.
On the rating, the benchmark jeans Levi Strauss unscrewed (-15.20%) despite a turnover and a quarterly net profit above expectations, investors retaining the cautious forecasts of the San Francisco group.
The semi-wholesale Costco brand faltered (-3.72%) after reporting a marked drop in sales in March, a leading indicator of a possible slowdown in consumption.
The spirits giant Constellation Brands, which notably controls the Corona and Modelo beer brands, was wanted (+0.44%). Despite declining turnover, the group improved its margins in wine and spirits, which enabled it to post a net profit above expectations.
The titles of the AMC cinema chain soared (+ 15.19%) after the refusal of a Delaware judge to accelerate the procedure which should make it possible to convert preference shares, distinct from the rest of the titles, into ordinary shares, and thus increase the number of the latter.
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