New York (AFP) – The New York Stock Exchange ended close to balance on Friday, following digesting good employment figures which had initially raised concerns regarding a tightening of US monetary policy.
The Dow Jones gained 0.10%, while the Nasdaq index lost 0.18% and the broader S&P 500 index edged down 0.12%.
Wall Street opened sharply down on learning that the US economy had created 263,000 net jobs in November, well above the 200,000 expected by economists.
“These numbers are a sign that (the US central bank) is not out of the woods,” said Charlie Ripley of Allianz Investment Management. “We expect monetary tightening to continue into next year.”
“The point that was particularly annoying for the market, and for the Fed (US central bank), is that the average salary has increased, rather than stabilizing,” said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial.
The average salary has, in fact, increased by 0.6% over one month, i.e. double what was expected.
A sign of the initial tension in the New York market, bond rates initially soared.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds reached 3.63%, once morest 3.50% the day before, before falling, just as sharply, to 3.46%, its lowest level for almost two month and a half.
As the hours passed, operators revised their judgment and finally welcomed this news of a job market that was still vigorous, despite a series of rate hikes by the Fed and the onset of an economic slowdown.
“This report is a positive development for the economy and lends credence to the hypothesis that the Fed might succeed in bringing the US economy to a soft landing,” said Peter Essele of Commonwealth Financial Network.
“Investors realize that the pace of job creation continues to decelerate”, even if it remains higher than expected, “which gives the Fed the luxury of continuing to raise its rates, at a more moderate pace”, Quincy Krosby said.
“What we’re looking for now is continuity in the market,” she continued, “to know if he can hold out next week.”
“With the (US) economy continuing to perform well, the year-end rebound that is taking shape might turn into momentum in 2023,” according to Peter Essele.
The initial impression of operators following the publication of the employment report had been very unfavorable to the technology sector, which is very dependent on credit conditions to finance its growth.
But it finally limited the damage, and some big caps like Netflix (+1.09%) or Microsoft (+0.13%) even ended in the green.
In lag, Meta shone (+ 2.53% to 123.49 dollars), while the group on Friday called on politicians, regulators and elected officials to propose a regulatory framework for the metaverse, a priority for its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Tesla also stood out (+0.08% to 194.86 dollars), the day following the fanfare delivery, Thursday, of its first electric truck, on the site of one of the manufacturer’s factories, in Sparks ( Nevada).
Its competitor Nikola, which had been the first, at the end of 2021, to deliver electric trucks, was doing better (+9.62% to 2.85 dollars).
The Dow Jones managed to close positive, thanks to the support of a few so-called defensive stocks, i.e. theoretically less sensitive to the economic situation, such as Coca-Cola (+0.88%), Procter & Gamble (+ 0.91%) or 3M (+0.79%).
He also took advantage of the flight of the aircraft manufacturer Boeing (+4.03% to 182.87 dollars), following the publication of information from the Wall Street Journal according to which the company United Airlines would be regarding to place an order. number of 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Chinese stocks listed on Wall Street celebrated the further easing of health restrictions in several Chinese cities on Friday.
Among them, the platforms Alibaba (+5.22%) and JD.com (+5.00%), as well as the electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng (+14.84%), were particularly sought following.
© 2022 AFP