(News Bulletin 247) – The New York Stock Exchange should continue to rise on Tuesday morning, driven by the announcement of higher-than-expected growth in China and better-than-expected corporate results overall.

The ‘futures’ on the main New York indices signal for the moment an opening of Wall Street on gains ranging from 0.1% to 0.8%.

The Chinese economy recorded growth of 4.5% in the first quarter on an annual basis, defying forecasts of a more limited increase of 4% in activity, thanks to an improvement in household demand.

These encouraging data should support the technology compartment and especially the semiconductor sector, of which China remains the main buyer with nearly 85% of global demand.

Equity markets should also benefit from the impetus given by some well-received quarterly publications, notably that of Bank of America.

The U.S. bank’s stock is reported up more than 2% at the open after reporting first-quarter profit up 15%, a performance that beat expectations.

Another successful publication, that of Johnson & Johnson (+0.8%), which revised its financial objectives for 2023 upwards after having done better than expected in the first three months of the year.

Contrary to the trend, Goldman Sachs is expected in the red following the announcement of better-than-expected profit in the first quarter, but revenues well below consensus.

On the macroeconomic front, the Commerce Department reported this morning a 0.8% decline in housing starts in March, a less pronounced decline than expected.

Housing permits – meant to foreshadow future housing starts – meanwhile fell 8.8%, slightly missing the market consensus.

On the bond market, yields on sovereign bonds are easing after having returned the day before to highs of almost a month, the yield on 10 years falling for the moment below 3.59%.

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