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New York (AFP) – The New York Stock Exchange attempted a rebound Thursday as it opened the penultimate session of 2022, a disastrous year for stocks.
On a very thin market, which increases the variations, the Dow Jones gained 1.00%, the Nasdaq jumped by 2.14% and the S&P 500 by 1.55%, around 3:15 p.m. GMT.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones index had dropped 1.10% to 32,875.71 points, the technology-dominated Nasdaq had lost 1.35% to 10,213.29 points and the broader S&P 500 index had lost 1.20%, falling back below the 3,800 points to 3,783.22 points.
“The year has clearly been difficult for investors,” commented Art Hogan B. Riley Wealth Management.
“2022 began with war in Ukraine and the Fed raising rates, followed by the highest inflation in four decades, double-digit losses for stocks and bonds, continued lockdowns in the second economy world and the slowdown in the real estate market”, he summed up.
To date on Wall Street, the index of star stocks is down 9.5% over the year, the S&P 500, the most representative of the American market, fell 20.6%. As for the Nasdaq, where popular technology stocks are concentrated, it tumbled 35%.
“The good news is that this year is almost over,” quipped Mr. Hogan.
“The bad news is that 2023 might be bumpy, at least for the first few months,” with the prospect of a mild recession in the US economy.
Rare indicator released this week, weekly jobless claims rose more than expected to 225,000 (+9,000) last week, the Labor Ministry said on Thursday.
The stock market indices reacted by consolidating their rise, seeing in this very slight deterioration in the job market a sign of the effectiveness of the increases in the Fed’s key rates.
Market operators tend to think that this might invite the central bank to slow down its increases in the cost of credit, which aim to cool the job market, therefore the economy and inflation in general.
Yields on ten-year Treasury bills remained stable around 3.88% but the dollar fell 0.29% once morest the euro at 1.0643 dollars for the euro and 0.52% once morest the main currencies according to the dollar index.
Unlike the day before, all sectors of the S&P were in the green, with the information technology sector leading the rise (+1.87%).
The Tesla action, which has suffered heavy losses in recent weeks (-44% in one month), recovered its head at 120 dollars (+ 7.56%) around 3:00 p.m. GMT.
Its competitors in electric vehicles followed suit such as Lucid (+6.11%) or Rivian (+5.72%).
Tech megacaps also picked up like Apple (+1.99%), Amazon and Alphabet (+1.99%) as well as Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram (+3.24%) .
Three days following the cruel blizzard that hit large parts of the United States and caused transport chaos, the airline Southwest was still struggling with the cancellation of 2,300 new flights Thursday and a pile of lost luggage .
The title raised its head a little (+3.14%) to 33.20 dollars following having lost more than 10% since Christmas.
The other airlines were better off such as United Airlines or American Airlines which gained more than 2.50% while Delta advanced by 1.90%.
© 2022 AFP
