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MARKET REVIEW. The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Thursday, benefiting from a technical rebound following two difficult sessions, and led by the good results of a heavyweight in technology, Salesforce.
The Toronto Stock Exchange benefited from the rise in US markets, closing higher despite weakness in the financial sector.
To (re)consult market news
Stock market indices at closing
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX closed up 77.43 points (+0.38%) at 20,337.21 points.
In New York, the S&P 500 closed up 29.96 points (+0.76%) at 3,981.35 points.
The Nasdaq advanced 83.50 points (+0.73%) to 11,462.98 points.
The DOW advanced 341.73 points (+1.05%) to 33,003.57 points.
The loon fell US$0.0000 (-0.0029%) to US$0.7355.
The oil ended up US$0.23 (+0.30%) at US$77.92.
L’or retreated US$3.00 (-0.16%) to US$1,842.40.
The bitcoin fell from US$135.46 (-0.57%) to US$23,434.62.
The context
For Patrick O’Hare, the session played out when the S&P 500 briefly dipped below a major technical level (the average of the last 200 trading days) before recovering, then gaining momentum before the close.
“The market was ripe for a rebound following falling in February and the first day of March,” explained the analyst. Stocks “had fallen too much, too fast, and traders were waiting for an excuse to start buying once more.”
Technical thresholds tend to become more and more important in a market where a lot of daily movements are dictated by algorithms and automated trading.
Wall Street also surfed on the results of the software specialist dedicated to customer relations Salesforce (CRM, +11.50% to US$186.59).
The San Francisco group published a turnover and a net profit higher than analysts’ estimates and announced forecasts considered ambitious, with margins rising sharply thanks to reinforced budgetary discipline.
For Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments, Salesforce’s communications is yet another example of a tech sector holding up despite slowing demand and rising rates.
“The message that the technology sector sends is that of efficiency, reduction in the workforce and the preservation of growth in profits,” she argues.
While a few giants of the new economy have been disappointing, several have thus fared well, like the results of Netflix (NFLX, -0,51% à 311,88$ US), Meta (META, +0.64% to US$174.53) or the graphics card manufacturer Nvidia (NVDA, +2.71% to US$233.14).
The momentum from the technical rebound allowed the New York market to overcome an early session in the red for the Nasdaq and the S&P 500.
The gloomy tone of the first exchanges had thus been given by the drop in weekly jobless claims, to 190,000 once morest 192,000 the previous week and 197,000 expected, a new illustration of the resistance of the job market.
Another downside is the 3.2% jump in the average cost of labor in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to data released Thursday by the US Department of Labor, when economists predicted 1.4%.
These two indicators had caused bond yields to boil a little more. The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 4.06%, once morest 3.99% the day before closing.
The market “will continue to be volatile and to dissect down to the smallest economic data”, announces Nancy Tengler.
Tesla pulled out of the way (TSLA, -5.85% to US$190.90), the day following a presentation to investors deemed disappointing for lack of concrete announcements. The manufacturer has not presented a new vehicle, confining itself to promising the arrival on the market of its Cybertruck pick-up by the end of the year.
Son concurrent Ford (F, +1.87% to US$12.55) said production of the electric version of its flagship F-150 pickup will resume on March 13, more than a month following being suspended for a battery fire problem.
The investment company Blackstone was heckled (BX, -0.80% to US$89.06) following defaulting on a debt maturity linked to a Finnish property manager, which it has controlled since 2017.
The department store chain Macy’s (M, +11.11% to US$22.70) benefited from a quarterly net profit above expectations, the turnover being in line with expectations.
Silvergate Capital, parent company of Silvergate Bank, often called the “crypto bank” because it is very popular with players in this sector, fell (SI, -57.72% to US$5.72). The group announced on Wednesday evening that recent developments in this market might affect its financial solidity and mentioned a possible cessation of payments in the coming year.
