The Dow Jones index fell 0.59% to 33,402.38 points, the technology-dominated Nasdaq 0.52% to 12,126.33 points and the broader S&P 500 index 0.58% to 4,100.60 points.
“There was less activity in the market today because we’re all a little distracted by what’s going on with Trump,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.
In New York, Donald Trump was charged and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts in connection with embezzlement related to money paid to a porn star, during an unprecedented criminal hearing.
“Even though it’s historic and many eyes are on it, this case has little direct economic impact and is a non-event for the market,” commented Hogan of B.Riley Wealth Management.
The exchanges, less voluminous than the day before, gave rise to profit taking “following the good run at the end of the quarter which ended on Friday”, estimated Steve Sosnick.
Thus energy-related stocks, which had soared the day before with the jump in crude prices linked to the announcement of a reduction in production by OPEC+, retraced some of the ground gained. This was the case for Halliburton (-2.55%), Schlumberger (-3.57%), ConocoPhilips (-1.96%) and Exxon Mobil (-0.96%).
Big names in tech, particularly linked to artificial intelligence, and which weighed heavily in the market’s recovery in the first quarter, suffered sales. Thus Nvidia lost 1.83%, chipmakers weakened like AMD (-0.71%).
Tesla, which had fallen more than 6% on Monday, fell another 1.12% to 192.58 dollars as investors watch the electric manufacturer’s vehicle delivery figures. These rose in the first quarter, but at the cost of lower prices that might happen once more, analysts fear.
His boss, Elon Musk has also attracted attention by changing the logo of the blue bird of Twitter for that of the dog mascot of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The course of the virtual currency has therefore soared, while Elon Musk has already been sued for the promotion of this digital token.
Investors also digested two mixed indicators.
The JOLTS monthly labor market survey showed job vacancies in the United States fell below 10 million in February, well below forecasts.
Some 9.93 million vacancies are to be filled, or 632,000 less than in January and their lowest level since May 2021.
This figure indicates that the job market is cooling, an objective sought by the American central bank (Fed), because this implies less pressure on wages and therefore less inflation.
The publication of industrial orders, which weakened more sharply than expected in February to -0.7%, following already falling 2.1% in January, for its part darkened the mood of investors.
Finally, the banking sector once more had a fit of weakness, following the warning from Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan (-1.34%) in his letter to shareholders.
He said the regional banking crisis is not over and will have repercussions for years to come, although it has nothing to do with the systemic risks of the 2008 financial crisis.
The action of the Californian bank First Republic fell by 5.49%, that of Western Alliance by 3.76%.
The Virgin Orbit action, Richard Branson’s company specializing in the launch of small satellites, signed its collapse plunging 23% to weigh only 0.14 dollars. The company filed for US bankruptcy on Tuesday.
