The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the session up 1.74% to 12,221.91 points. The Dow Jones index gained 1.26% to 33,274.15 points and the S&P 500 1.44% to 4,109.31 points.
“Financial markets continued to stabilize this week as concerns over the banking sector dissipated,” analysts at Oxford Economics said.
President Joe Biden had called on Thursday to strengthen banking supervision by restoring the obligation of stress tests for mid-sized banks.
Investors were also encouraged by the moderation of inflation in February in the United States, to 5% over one year once morest 5.3% the previous month, according to the PCE index, favored by the Federal Reserve (Fed ).
In just one month, price increases also slowed to 0.3%, slightly below analysts’ expectations of 0.4%, according to the consensus published by briefing.com.
“This is good news on the inflation side, especially following the alarming acceleration in prices in January,” said Chris Low of FHN Financial.
“But the market’s attention will be focused on March employment which will be released next week,” he warned.
In the quarter, which in March saw a mini bank panic among regional banks and another Fed rate hike, the broader S&P 500 index, the most representative of the market, marked a rise of 6.7%. and the Nasdaq by more than 16%. The Dow Jones returned to its level at the start of the year.
“The market is rebounding in particular because it managed to pass a major test with the banking crisis. The American financial system bent but did not break,” commented for AFP Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
According to him, “the environment is favorable for a rise in equities because many investors have remained on the sidelines” for a year and “a lot of money is not invested which only requires work”. “It might be the start of a new bull market,” he said.
The only shadow on the table of indicators, consumer confidence fell in March, for the first time in four months, to 62 points once morest 67 points in February, according to the survey by the University of Michigan.
On the stock side, all S&P sectors ended in the green, led by consumer spending (+2.61%), real estate (+2.15%) and communication services (+2.07). %).
The regional bank First Citizen, which bought the bankrupt SVB, climbed 4.21% to 973.10 dollars.
Department store titles were on the rise, such as Macy’s and Target, which gained more than 3%.
Electric vehicle maker Nikola stalled steeply losing 13.57% to $1.21. The manufacturer announced the day before the sale of shares for 100 million dollars at a price lower than the quotation on Thursday, in order to build up reserves.
Tesla shares soared 6.24% to $207.46.
The company specializing in the launch of small satellites Virgin Orbit, in difficulty following the failure of a space mission, dropped even more than 41% to 20 cents.
The company of British billionaire Richard Branson will lay off 85% of its employees, according to a document published on the site of the policeman of the American Stock Exchange (SEC).
On the bond market, yields on ten-year bonds eased significantly to 3.46% once morest 3.55% the day before. The two-year yield slipped to 4.03% from 4.11% on Thursday.
