Wall Street opens lower, weighed down by falling oil prices
Monday, 20.04.2020
news-single-imgcaption" style="width:240px">The New York market started the week off on the wrong foot with the vertiginous fall in black gold prices. (Keystone)
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Around 2:00 p.m. GMT, the Wall Street flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 1.56% to 23,864.45 points.
The highly technological Nasdaq lost 0.79% to 8,581.60 points, and the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, fell 1.19% to 2,840.43 points.
The major Wall Street indices closed higher on Friday, recording their second consecutive weekly advance, in a market considering a gradual reopening of the American economy: over the week, the Dow Jones had risen by 2.2% and the Nasdaq by 6.1%.
But the New York market started the week off on the wrong foot with the vertiginous fall in the price of black gold, in particular the New York WTI, whose barrel for delivery in May fell by more than 30% in the face of demand for and US crude reserves close to saturation.
“The collapse in oil prices is not only a problem for the energy sector,” notes Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.
“It is also a problem for the financial sector and for investor sentiment in general, as falling oil prices heighten concerns over solvency risks, geopolitical risks and social unrest in countries highly dependent on income tankers, “said the expert.
Market players also continued to closely monitor the development of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and around the world.
Spread of the virus appeared to be on a downward curve in New York, the US epicenter, but controversy was mounting in several states over possible measures to end containment.
On the economic front, attention focused mainly on the continuation of support measures for businesses ravaged by the crisis linked to the pandemic.
“The markets are considering the prospect of an announcement of new financing for small and medium-sized enterprises by American legislators, the program of loans to SMEs having spent its funds,” say analysts at Schwab.
US Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, and Democratic leaders in Congress all said last weekend that the White House and Democratic parliamentarians were close to reaching more money. .
On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the American debt fell, to 0.6242% against 0.6417% on Friday at the close. (Awp)
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