Wall Street ends cautious, in scattered order, at the start of a busy week

The New York Stock Exchange closed in mixed order Monday, not far from equilibrium, showing caution ahead of multiple corporate results, a Fed meeting and a jobs report this week.

The Dow Jones index fell 0.12% to 40,539.93 points, the S&P 500 gained 0.08% to 5,463.54 points and the Nasdaq, where technology dominates, gained 0.07% to 17,370.20 points.

“It’s a big week with Microsoft, Meta and Apple results and we have a Federal Reserve meeting,” summarized Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

“I don’t expect a monetary change” as early as Wednesday “but I think the Fed will probably give a hint that it might cut rates in September” at the next meeting, the analyst added.

These overnight interest rates, which govern all other credit costs, are at their highest in 22 years, between 5.25% and 5.50%.

Investors were encouraged on Friday by the evolution of inflation in the United States, which continued to slow, according to the June PCE index. Over a year, inflation returned to 2.5% last month, compared to 2.6% in May, according to data published Friday by the Commerce Department.

“It is clear that the disinflation process is underway. (…) This is a major development,” Nathan Sheets, chief economist at Citi, told AFP.

On the bond market, ten-year rates fell to 4.17%.

At the end of the week, the market will also be watching the official employment figures for July. New hires are expected to slow slightly to 190,000 from 206,000 and the unemployment rate to remain at 4.1%, according to MarketWatch forecasts.

McDonald’s shares jumped 3.74% to $261.42 on the stock market, even though the fast-food chain saw its sales decline in the second quarter, for the first time since the Covid pandemic.

Whether in the United States, China, France or the Middle East, customers were less eager to visit McDonald’s, which is also suffering from a boycott in certain regions linked to the war in Gaza.

Revenue fell 8% to $6.49 billion (-1% like-for-like) and net income plunged 12% to $2.02 billion. But investors were sensitive to the fact that the chain will extend its “$5 meal” promotion that has attracted more low-income customers.

3M shares adjusted (-1.57%) after surging Friday (+16%) as the conglomerate raised its full-year profit forecast.

After a big drop mid-week, Tesla recovered a bit, gaining 5.60% to $232.10.