Wall Street, up slightly, stacks records

The New York Stock Exchange closed slightly higher on Monday, continuing its momentum at the end of the week, which allowed the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 to set new records for the second session in a row.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.36%, a new all-time high, just above 38,000 points for the first time at 38,001.81 points.

The predominantly technological Nasdaq advanced 0.32% to 15,360.29 points. And the S&P 500 (+0.22%), which had surpassed a two-year record on Friday, reached a new high of 4,850.43 points.

“The market continued the upward momentum from last week,” commented Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital. “This is going to be an important week with two major indicators at the end of the week, the growth of gross domestic product in the fourth quarter and the PCE inflation index”, preferred barometer of the American central bank (Fed) to judge the price evolution.

For growth, forecast for Thursday, analysts are banking on an expansion of 2% at an annual rate in the second quarter.

In addition, a flood of company results will be released this week. Tuesday saw Johnson and Johnson, General Electric, Procter and Gamble, Lookeed Martin and Netflix among others. Tesla is expected on Wednesday.

United Airlines, which published after the market closed a larger loss than expected from January to March due to Boeing’s 737 MAX 9s stuck on the ground, closed down 0.95%. However, the title gained more than 6% in electronic trading after the market closed.

On Monday, the index of main leading indicators showed a decline to -0.1% in the United States, the 21st in a row in December, but much lower than in previous months and better than analysts’ forecasts.

“This goes in the direction of a soft landing for the economy” of the United States and “this motivates the market”, assured Peter Cardillo to AFP.

Bond rates were down at 4.10% for ten-year bonds compared to 4.12% on Friday around 9:00 p.m. GMT.

On the side of American monetary policy, “the members of the Federal Reserve (Fed) are now subject to their usual period of silence” before the monetary decision of January 31, recalled Will Compernolle, of FHN Financial.

On the values front, Boeing held steady (-0.04%) despite requests from the regulator, the FAA, to inspect new Boeing aircraft, the 737-900ER, after the incidents observed on the sealed doors of the Boeings. 737 MAX 9 with a very similar design.

This announcement follows the incident that occurred on January 5 during an Alaska Airlines flight during which a door came loose from the cabin of a Boeing 737 MAX 9.

The Macy’s store chain soared 3.52% to $18.25 after rejecting a $5.8 billion buyout offer from a group of investors.

The department store brand, which is experiencing financial difficulties, confirmed in a statement Sunday evening that it “received an unsolicited proposal” from Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management to acquire all of the company’s shares for $21 per share in cash.

American agricultural commodities giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) collapsed by 24.49%. The trading company has suspended its chief financial officer, placing him on administrative secondment, pending the results of an SEC investigation into accounting methods used in the group’s Nutrition business.

American low-cost airlines Spirit (+19.39%) and JetBlue (+0.20% and +1.80% after the close) were variously sought after filing an appeal to a federal appeals court on Friday against the blocking of their merger project, decided earlier by a Boston judge.

The listed company Digital World Acquisition (DWAC), responsible for carrying out Donald Trump’s social media activities, saw its shares soar 88% to $49.69 after Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and rival of former president for the Republican candidacy in the presidential election, threw in the towel on Sunday.