Wall Street ends lower, weighed down by technology

The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Monday, weighed down by technology, as the Dow Jones tried to stabilize in a weak market, after several sessions of decline.

The Dow Jones index, up much of the session, lost 0.04% to 33,714.71 points. The technology-dominated Nasdaq lost 1.16% to 13,335.78 points and the broader S&P 500 index dropped 0.45% to 4,328.82 points.

For Peter Cardillo, an analyst at Spartan Capital Securities, “the rebellion in Russia had very little impact on the market because it did not last long”. “Nevertheless, it is a geopolitical factor that will remain in abeyance for some time,” he added.

The leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, author of an abortive mutiny which lasted 24 hours from Friday evening, had promised to “liberate the Russian people” by targeting in particular the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and the Russian Chief of Staff Valéri Guérassimov, whom he accuses of having sacrificed thousands of men in Ukraine.

Mr. Prigojine put an end to his rebellion on Saturday evening, in exchange for immunity for himself and his men.

According to Schaeffer’s Laura McCandless, this brief rebellion in Russia “remained on the minds of investors” on Monday.

The trading volume was low, in the absence of important indicators.

On the other hand, on Wednesday, investors will watch for the words of the president of the American central bank (Fed), Jerome Powell, who will speak at the forum organized by the European Central Bank (ECB) in Sintra, Portugal. Mr. Powell will also speak in Spain on Thursday.

In terms of macro news, consumer confidence in the United States will be gauged on Tuesday for the month of June, ahead of the release of the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the PCE index, which will be unveiled on Friday. for the month of May.

The markets will also have an indication of the momentum of the consumer, the engine of American growth, with the evolution of income and especially household spending for May.

In terms of values, a large half of the eleven sectors concluded in the green, starting with the real estate sector (+2.21%) and energy (+1.71%), while oil prices ended slightly in the green attentive to the geopolitical situation with Russia.

Tesla stock darkened the Nasdaq’s mood. Degraded by Goldman Sachs, the title fell 6.06% to 241.05 dollars.

Most of the big names in the technology sector followed lower, from Alphabet (Google, -3.19%) also poorly rated by a bank, to Meta (Facebook, -3.55%). Microsoft and Netfliw dropped almost 2%.

Nvidia, the darling of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, also ended in sharp decline (-3.74% to 406.32 dollars).

IBM, on the other hand, gained 1.48% to 131.34 dollars, after announcing its intention to buy the software company Apptio specializing in the cloud (remote computing) and AI for 4.6 billion dollars.

Vaccine maker Moderna climbed 1.61% to $120.41, benefiting from better appreciation of the group’s valuation potential by UBS bank.

The Pfizer laboratory on the other hand fell by 3.68%, while the group announced the cessation of the development of an experimental drug against obesity, lotiglipron, which seems to have a bad effect on the liver.

Regional banks held up well, led by PacWest (+4.01% to 7.52%), sought after selling a $3.5 billion loan portfolio to Ares Management. Western alliance gained 2.14% and Zions 1.80%.

On the bond market, yields on ten-year Treasury bills were very slightly down at 3.72% against 3.73% the day before.