Between company results and geopolitical tensions, Wall Street closes higher

The New York Stock Exchange concluded the first session of the week with a sharp increase on Monday, focused on company results while monitoring diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.93% to 33,984.54 points, the Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, advanced 1.20% to 13,567.98 points and the S&P 500 by 1.06% to 4,373.63 points.

“Something is wrong on Wall Street. Stocks have climbed even though yields on Treasury bills have also, while uncertainties remain,” commented Edward Moya of Oanda.

“Much of the attention remains focused on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which is the subject of diplomatic efforts to prevent the war from spreading,” he added.

Europe wants to open a humanitarian air corridor to the Gaza Strip, announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, declaring that the Palestinians in Gaza could “not pay the price for the barbarity of Hamas”.

The German Chancellor announced Monday that he would visit Israel this week to show his “solidarity”, thus becoming the first head of government to act in this way since the bloody Hamas attack. He also indicated that he would go to Egypt.

For Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital, the sharp rise in the indices reflects investors’ expectations “for a good corporate results season”.

“On Tuesday, we will have several large companies: from Goldman Sachs to Bank of America Airlines via Johnson and Johnson and if their results are as good as those of JPMorgan on Friday, it could help to soften the negative sentiment linked to the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” the analyst noted.

According to him, the dynamism of the session is “a delayed reaction to the good results posted on Friday” by the banks JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

In terms of indicators, manufacturing activity in the highly industrialized region of New York plunged again in October, sinking more than expected, after slight growth in September, according to the monthly Empire State survey published Monday by the antenna of New York of the Federal Reserve (Fed).

The Empire State index fell seven points compared to the previous month, to settle at -4.6 points, a drop a little more marked than expected.

On the market, the action of Pfizer laboratories which lowered their turnover forecasts for 2023 due to lower demand for its vaccine against Covid-19 was nevertheless sought after, climbing by 3.61% to 33, 27 dollars. The concomitant announcement of job cuts seemed to reassure investors.

Sports equipment manufacturer Lululemon Athletica soared 10.31% to $416.64.

The market thus celebrated the entry of the yoga clothing chain into the S&P 500, a major stock index.

Lululemon will officially be part of it on Wednesday, replacing the video game publisher Activision, which will enter the fold of Microsoft.

Microsoft (+1.50%) finalized its acquisition of Activision last week after a long battle with the competition authorities in the United Kingdom.

The brokerage and banker giant Schwab rose 4.64% to $53.71 after announcing figures slightly below expectations for its third quarter. Schwab reported a decline in deposits but less rapidly than in the previous quarter.

The automaker Ford gained 1.02% to $11.93 as its president and great-grandson of the founder, Bill Ford, appealed to his “colleagues” in the UAW union to put an end to the “cycle of acrimonious negotiations” and the “devastating” strike.

The Ford group, like its two major competitors in the United States, General Motors and Stellantis, has been affected since mid-September by a strike linked to the development of the next collective agreements.