PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange began the first session of the year on a gloomy note, weighed down in particular by Apple, after an end of the year dominated by appetite for risk against a backdrop of hopes of a decline rates of the American Federal Reserve (Fed).
In early trading Tuesday, the Dow Jones index lost 97.11 points, or 0.26%, to 37,592.43 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.69% to 4,736.79 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.26%, or 189.26 points, to 14,822.09.
The three Wall Street indices, which notched nine consecutive weekly gains to end the year as a whole up 13.7%, 24.2% and 43.4% respectively, appear to be opting for caution in a consolidation movement before the American employment figures expected this week.
Apple, down almost 3%, weighs on the trend after information from thefly.com according to which Barclays lowered its recommendation on the Apple group to “sell”, after a 48% jump in the action in 2023.
Nvidia, Tesla and Alphabet fell from 0.75% to 2.86%.
“This is the first day after a tremendous run. When you think about what has happened from the October lows to today, I expect the first three months of this year are difficult and this week is a bit of a reflection of that, with investors taking profits or readjusting their portfolios,” explains Phil Blancato, managing director of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.
Stocks linked to cryptoassets such as Bitfarms (+7.38%), Riot Platforms (+8.15%), Marathon Digital (+10.21%), Hut 8 Mining (+9.59%), on the other hand, benefit from the rise in bitcoin, which is trading above $45,000 for the first time since April 2022. Investors are increasingly convinced that US regulators will soon approve bitcoin ETFs.
The oil groups Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Marathon Oil, Exxon Mobil advanced from 0.69% to 1.28% due to tensions in the Red Sea where the attack on a cargo ship by fighters belonging to the Yemeni Houthi rebel movement notably was pushed back by the US Navy on Sunday.
In mergers and acquisitions, Avangrid (+1.48%), the American subsidiary of Iberdrola, put an end to the $8.3 billion takeover project of PNM Resources (-6.8%).
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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