(News Bulletin 247) – The US equity indices ended with more or less significant gains on Wednesday, on economic indicators generally better than expected: the Dow Jones gained 0.1% to 34,128 points, but the Nasdaq Composite took 0 .9% to 12071 points.
After two consecutive months of decline, retail sales in the United States rebounded 3% last month, a performance that exceeded expectations, in particular due to the strength of car and furniture purchases.
Also released in the morning, the ‘Empire State’ index rose to -5.8 in February, from -32.9 in January, indicating a lesser contraction in activity in the region’s manufacturing sector. from New York.
As for American industrial production, it managed to stabilize in January, despite a fall of nearly 10% in utilities due to weather conditions which weighed on heating demand.
All these rather solid statistics certainly tended to reinforce in the eyes of investors the scenario of further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, but they still warded off the specter of a recession.
On the stock side, investors welcomed the quarterly publication of the semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices (+7.5%), accompanied by a dividend increase, but they abandoned that of the health group Biogen (-3.5%). ).
Above all, Airbnb stood out with a jump of 13.3%, the platform for renting accommodation between individuals having presented quarterly results above expectations and declared that it was still benefiting from strong demand at the start of the year.
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