- Around 2:25 p.m. GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 0.19% to 27,923.42 points.
- The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, took 0.62% to 11,081.01 points.
- The S&P 500 expanded index was up 0.04% at 3,881.58 points, setting a new record at the close.
The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply higher on Wednesday, taking advantage of the rise in technology stocks and reacting positively to the choice of Kamala Harris as Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate for the November presidential election: the Dow Jones had won 1, 05% and the Nasdaq was up 2.13%.
New jobless claims fell last week in the United States, falling below the million mark for the first time since March, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department.
Some 963,000 people registered as unemployed in the United States between August 2 and 8, down from 1.19 million the week before. It is also much less than expected by analysts, who expected 1.15 million.
However, observes Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com, “new allowance claims are about four times larger than what the market was used to before the surge in late March” when millions of Americans lost their jobs, hit by the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Market players also remained attentive to parliamentary negotiations around new stimulus measures to help American communities, businesses and households, but the discussions seemed to be stalling.
Faced with the lack of progress, Donald Trump signed four decrees last Saturday on a wage freeze, additional help for the unemployed, protections against expulsions and a postponement of the repayment of student loans.
However, these temporary measures risk being challenged in court since it is in Congress that the US Constitution vests most of the country’s budget decisions.
“Apple One”
Among the values of the day, 3M gained 0.92%. The American conglomerate, which markets in particular stationery and DIY products, announced Thursday a 6% increase in its sales in July on an annual basis, these amounting to 2.8 billion dollars .
Apple rose 1.14%. According to the Bloomberg agency, the apple brand is about to launch a series of new subscriptions, called “Apple One”, to allow customers to access the brand’s digital services at a reduced price. Apple could also launch its own virtual fitness class app to compete with services like Peloton and Nike.
United Airlines appreciated 1.04%. The airline announced on Wednesday that it would add 28 non-stop daily flights from November to connect Boston, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New York, Pittsburgh and Columbus (Ohio) to four destinations in Florida (Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa).
The American scientific equipment maker Thermo Fisher gleaned 0.04% after announcing Thursday that it had given up buying the European laboratory Qiagen (+ 0.60%), failing to have succeeded in buying back enough shares.
On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt rose to 0.6801% against 0.6747% Wednesday night.
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