(News Bulletin 247) – US markets ended Tuesday without major changes, the debt ceiling soap opera having left investors in suspense: the Dow Jones fell more than 0.1% to 33,043 points and the Nasdaq Composite gleaned about 0.3% to 13,017 points.

If an agreement in principle was reached this weekend between Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy to raise the debt ceiling of the United States, this compromise must still be submitted to the vote of Congress in the very next few days.

“As of June 5, in the absence of an agreement to raise/suspend the debt ceiling, the Treasury could not fulfill all its obligations due to lack of liquidity”, warned Oddo BHF, recalling that the next big tax return is scheduled for June 15.

The Nasdaq, with a strong technological component, nevertheless benefited from the strength of Nvidia which gained 3% and even crossed the symbolic threshold of 1000 billion dollars in capitalization for a time, still benefiting from its recent announcements.

Ford for its part jumped 4% in the wake of an increase in recommendation at Jefferies from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ on the title of the automaker, with a price target raised from 13 to 16 dollars.

On the economic front, US consumer confidence deteriorated in May, according to the Conference Board index, which fell from 103.7 in April to 102.3, a level nevertheless higher than the 98 anticipated by Jefferies.

“Consumer sentiment on current conditions has become a little less optimistic as their expectations have remained gloomy,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director, economics, at The Conference Board.

House prices in the United States continued to rise in March (+0.5% on an annual basis), thanks in particular to particularly significant increases in Florida, according to the monthly S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller survey.

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