Linea Mercati Interview 8/9/24
August 12, 2024Linea Mercati Interview 8/13/24
August 14, 2024The New York Stock Exchange ended a turbulent week, the most volatile of the year so far, with a slight increase on Friday.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.13% to 39,497.54 points, the technology-dominated Nasdaq advanced 0.51% to 16,745.30 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.47% to 5,344.16 points.
On Monday, in the wake of the rout in global markets after a stronger-than-expected US unemployment figure and a sudden appreciation of the yen linked to the Bank of Japan’s policy, Wall Street had its worst session since 2022.
“There was no further unwinding of carry trades and that helped the market,” said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital, referring to the wave of unwinding of these yen speculative positions on Monday that was partly responsible for the turbulence earlier this week.
A “carry trade” involves borrowing money in a currency whose central bank charges low rates like the yen and investing it in a currency with higher yields.
For Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management, “the drop in weekly jobless claims was the trigger for Thursday’s rebound” after Monday’s global panic.
Friday was “a day without economic data” as investors now have “U.S. inflation next week on their radar,” the analyst warned.
Investors will need to position themselves ahead of the CPI inflation index on Wednesday, preceded by producer prices (PPI) on Tuesday.
Briefing.com’s median forecast is for monthly inflation in the United States to edge up to +0.2% in July from -0.1% in June.
On the bond market, 10-year yields eased to 3.93% from 3.98% the day before.
Mega-cap technology stocks regained interest from buyers.
Apple gained 1.37% to $216.24, Meta +1.60% to $517.77
Among semiconductor makers, Taiwan Semiconductors Manufacturing (TSMC), listed in both Taiwan and New York, climbed 1.56% after reporting a 45% jump in sales in July, driven by insatiable demand for its chips dedicated to generative artificial intelligence.
Micron Technology also gained 1.10% and Broadcom 1.73%.
Competitors such as AMD (-1.50%) and Intel (-3.81%) were shunned, however.
Eli Lilly Laboratories soared again (+5.49%) after a jump of 9.48% the day before as the group rides on the success of its treatments for diabetes and obesity that will boost its sales by more than 3 billion dollars over the year.
The shares of the media group Paramount Global advanced by 0.88%, investors showing satisfaction with a plan to lay off 15% of the workforce, or some 2,000 people.
“This will involve duplication (caused by the merger with Skydance, Editor’s note) in marketing and communication, a reduction also in the financial, legal departments…” detailed one of the group’s directors, Chris McCarthy, during a conference call with analysts.
Paramount Global and Skydance Media announced their merger at the beginning of July.
French-Italian-American automaker Stellantis lost 1.35% but gained 0.36% in electronic trading after the close.
Stellantis, formed by the merger of Peugeot-Citroen and Fiat-Chrysler in 2021, announced that it would stop production of its entry-level Ram 1500 Classic pickup, manufactured at a plant in Michigan (north), which could lead to the loss of nearly 2,500 jobs starting in October.
Dow Jones member Amgen Laboratories fell 0.68% after lowering its annual projections.
In the second quarter, sales climbed 20% to $8.4 billion thanks to the acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, which specializes in treatments for spleen, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. However, the cost of the acquisition, $28 billion, will weigh on the accounts.
Amgen had already closed down 5% on Thursday.
