Wall Street up slightly, good news from inflation and American Express

The New York Stock Exchange moved up slightly on Friday, encouraged by a price indicator which confirms the slowdown in inflation as well as by positive signals from card issuers, in particular American Express, on consumption.

Around 3:10 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones gained 0.41%, the Nasdaq index took 0.56% and the broader S&P 500 index, 0.36%.

The session started in the red, mainly due to disappointment with poor results from Intel, “which put the Nasdaq under pressure”, according to Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

But the indices recovered quickly, thanks in particular to the good impression left by a series of macroeconomic indicators.

Wall Street received further positive data from the inflation front, with the PCE price index rising just 0.1% in December month on month, although economists saw it coming out flat.

In terms of prices, investors were more focused on the 0.3% rise in the core index excluding food and energy (+0.3%), which was in line with estimates.

Operators also focused their attention on another figure from the Commerce Department’s report, which concerned consumption, which contracted by 0.2% over one month, more than the 0.1% expected.

“It’s not good news for the economy, but it’s good news for the Fed (US central bank)”, whose short-term objective is to cause a slowdown in the economy to calm the crisis. inflation, responded Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

The Fed meets next Tuesday and Wednesday and Wall Street expects it to raise its key rate by a quarter point after its talks.

For Quincy Krosby, of LPL Financial, the market was also driven Friday by the positive message of card issuers on the health of consumers, in particular American Express.

The credit card specialist has announced that it expects revenue growth of between 15 and 17% in 2023 and forecasts net profit above analysts’ forecasts so far.

He was wanted on Friday (+10.16% to 15.85 dollars), despite a quarterly result and profit below expectations.

Investors also welcomed the results of Visa (+2.87% to 231.09 dollars), above their expectations, which were driven by the acceleration of tourism and travel abroad.

The New York market has been flirting for several days with important technical thresholds, the clear upward crossing of which could signal a lasting acceleration in the indices, according to Quincy Krosby.

For the analyst, beyond Friday’s session, the trajectory of Wall Street should be guided by the words of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday after the meeting of the institution.

Other strong markers expected next week are revenue trend indicators, which will make it possible to better assess the trajectory of inflation, as well as the results of several heavyweights in the technology sector, namely Amazon, Apple and Meta.

At the rating, Intel fell back (-8.01% to 27.68 dollars) after reporting a net loss of $ 700 million in the fourth quarter, well above the 80 million expected by analysts.

The group of Santa Clara (California) suffered a further slowdown in sales in the two most important activities of the company, namely components for desktop and laptop computers, as well as those supplied to the storage centers of data (data centers).

The oil maker Chevron was sanctioned (-2.80% to 152.54 dollars) for its quarterly net profit significantly below expectations, impacted by asset write-downs of 1.1 billion dollars.

The toymaker Hasbro (-4.15% to 61.13 dollars) paid the announcement of quarterly sales down 17%, according to preliminary data. To cope with the slowdown in sales, the group will cut 1,000 jobs, or around 15% of its workforce.

The group of hygiene and cleaning products Colgate-Palmolive fell (-5.58% to 71.32 dollars) despite results above forecasts. For 2023, the New York firm expects growth in its turnover at the top of its long-term range, which ranges from 3 to 5%.