(News Bulletin 247) – The New York Stock Exchange opened in the red Thursday morning under the impact of the plunge of several big names in the rating in the wake of results deemed disappointing.

At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones fell 0.2% to 33,812.9 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.5% to 12,096.1 points.

The series of worse than expected corporate results published between last night and this morning does not seem to give investors much cause for optimism.

Tesla in particular fell by 8% after unveiling on Wednesday evening a quarterly turnover in line with expectations, but disappointed in terms of its margins and its operating profit.

Ford (-3.7%) and GM (-3.4%) stocks are also losing ground in its wake.

Another unexciting publication, AT&T slipped by 9% after announcing that its free cash flow had dried up sharply in the first three months of the year, with a division by more than two.

At the other end of the stock market spectrum, IBM shares rose 1.8% in the wake of the publication of quarterly performance that was ‘less worse than expected’ in the opinion of analysts.

A sign of the return of risk aversion, ten of the 11 major sector indices of the S&P 500 are moving into negative territory this morning, with the most marked decline going to energy stocks (-1.8%).

The more defensive consumer staples sector managed to post a meager 0.1% increase.

At the same time, the many economic indicators published in the morning – all particularly gloomy – do not encourage investors to take risks.

Expected to rise slightly, the Philadelphia Fed index plunged to -31.3 in April after -23.2 in March, to return to its lowest level since May 2020.

In the same negative vein, the Conference Board index of leading indicators continued to decline in March (-1.2%), thus reinforcing the scenario of a recession in the months to come.

Disappointment also on the side of sales of existing homes in the United States, which fell by 2.4% last month compared to February, while their median sale price fell by 0.9% over one year, to 375,700. dollars.

Released earlier in the day, jobless claims were up 5,000 last week to 245,000 from 240,000, reflecting a weaker labor market.

On the bond compartment, these mediocre figures – which remove the threat of further rate hikes or even reinforce the scenario of an upcoming monetary easing – are causing yields to plunge.

The ten-year US government bond rate fell seven basis points to 3.53%.

The renewed concern about the health of the economy and the strength of corporate results is also weighing on oil prices, which continue to fall (-2.2% to 77.4 dollars) despite the weakening greenback.

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