The New York Stock Exchange ended down on Tuesday, ending without conviction, for lack of catalyst, a month of February rich in twists and turns, which will not have been favorable to equities.
The Dow Jones fell 0.71%, the Nasdaq index lost 0.10% and the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.30%.
After jumping 6.1% in January, the S&P 500 dropped 2.6% in February, weighed down by the prospect of a longer-than-expected period of monetary tightening, justified by US economic activity that refuses to decelerate.
“There was no conviction today one way or the other,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “We spent the session hovering around the balance.”
This hesitation is also explained, he believes, by the fact that Tuesday was the last day of February, a traditionally bad month for equities.
“Markets remain volatile given the uncertainty over the ultimate impact of ongoing proactive monetary tightening,” Schwab analysts noted in a note.
The bond market also had a quiet session, marking a break following last week’s heat wave. The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 3.92%, once morest 3.91% the day before closing.
Wall Street paid little attention to the day’s macroeconomic indicators, many of which were surprising.
The confidence index measured by the Conference Board trade association notably fell to 102.9 points in February, once morest 106.0 in January, well below the 108.5 points announced by economists.
The results of companies did not give the more, the headliner Target (+1.01%) receiving a note “passable”, according to Mr. Sosnick, “following several disappointments”.
The supermarket chain published better-than-expected results for the quarter running from November to January. CEO Brian Cornell described a “very delicate context” at the start of the year.
Aluminum materials specialist Arconic took off (+19.48%) following the Wall Street Journal reported a possible takeover by investment firm Apollo Global Management.
The information benefited mining companies Cleveland-Cliffs (+3.44%) and Freeport-McMoRan (+2.14%), as well as steelmaker US Steel (+5.95%).
Cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line (-10.18%) paid a significantly higher-than-expected net loss in the fourth quarter of 2022, linked to a spike in its costs. The Miami company is nevertheless counting on an occupancy rate of 100% of its cruises in the first quarter.
Manchester United continued to decline (-0.14%), following several British media reported on the possibility of maintaining control of the Glazer family club, which might opt for the entry of a minority shareholder rather than a sale of all of their shares.
Meta advanced (+3.19%), the day following CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of a team dedicated to so-called generative artificial intelligence, i.e. capable of generating content in response to plain language questions or requests.
The Zoom videoconferencing platform (+1.18%) was driven by quarterly results better than expected by analysts. The group expects to see its growth decelerate even more, around 1% over the year, but is counting on a net profit higher than forecast.
Goldman Sachs was penalized (-3.80%) by comments from executives during the investor day regarding retail banking. General manager David Solomon said the establishment was studying “strategic alternatives” for this activity, which has been developed in recent years but whose results are considered unsatisfactory.
