Wall Street ended with a small increase
Narrowly. Wall Street reaches the very end of the session to retrieve the ground lost during the day. Result: the Dow Jones closing on a slight increase from 0.24% to 10,434 points, the Nasdaq is 0.05% at 2307 points while the S & P gained 0.13% to 1116 points.
The markets have literally beaten to a few minutes left to return to the green. Before that, the entire session was marked by a gradual decline of the indices, itself caused by the publication of a round of disappointing macroeconomic indicators:
– Entries weekly unemployment rose in the United States during the week to June 12, at 472 000 460 000 against the previous week, according to the Department of Labor. Economists had expected jobless claims averaged 450,000. The entries of the week to June 5 were also revised up from an initial estimate of 456,000.
– Consumer prices in May have suffered their biggest drop since a year and a half under the ambit of the sharp drop in energy costs. The index of consumer prices adjusted for seasonal variations show a decline of 0.2%, the biggest drop since December 2008. Economists and analysts were predicting a similar decline after a decline of 0.1% in April.
– The current account deficit widened in the first quarter to 109 billion dollars, or 3% of GDP, compared to fourth quarter 2009. This is his third consecutive quarterly increase since the low of $ 84.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009, when the international commercial exchange had significantly contracted due to recession.
– The index of industrial activity in terms of the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia has emerged significantly weaker than expected in June and called for a fragile economic recovery in the United States. The index came in at 8 in June as against 20.9 expected and 21.4 in May The employment component falling in the negative, at -1.5 against 3.2 in May, the lowest since November 2009.
– The index of U.S. leading indicators registered a record high in May, according to the Conference Board, suggesting that the recovery of the U.S. economy will continue. The index rose 0.4% to 109.9, after having stagnated in April. Economists projected an increase of 0.5%.The index should continue to increase but more modestly in the coming months due to an unemployment rate still important.
Little comfort in Brussels
The markets were also attentive to the summit of European leaders in Brussels today. Following discussions, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy has sought to reassure markets about the financial health of Spain. Thus, any rescue plan would be the agenda, contrary to rumors markets.
European shares closed higher on a small, grim. The euro, however, is ironed for the first time since late May over the threshold of $ 1.24, to 1.2413 dollar to 18 hours.
AOL supervised
On the side of values, according to several American media, the internet group AOL (1.66% to 22.65 dollars) is about to give the social network Bebo to an investment fund, Criterion Capital Partners, a small fraction of the price he had paid to take it two years ago.
Always on the side of values, FedEx (-0.05% to 78.11 dollars) Wednesday reported a quarterly profit slightly above expectations.
Also note Apple (1.73% to 271.87 U.S. dollars) which said it had registered more than 600,000 bookings for the new version of the iPhone during the first day of marketing.
JM Smucker (6.58% to 61.55 dollars), a group specializing in food, has reported a turnover of 1.07 billion dollars for its fourth fiscal quarter and a Earnings per share (EPS) of $ 1.07 before exceptional items.
Pier 1 Imports (2.62% to 8.23 dollars) a manufacturer of furniture, for its part, reported an unexpected profit adjusted under its first fiscal quarter in favor of improving its sales business on a comparable basis and its margins.