Wall Street reopens today after being closed yesterday for Martin Luther King Day.
The YTD trend (since the beginning of 2023) of the US stock exchange is positive: in pole position is the Nasdaq Composite, which benefits from purchases by investors of shares in the hi-tech sector, fueled by the hope that, for growth shares , the best context.
Since the start of 2023, the Nasdaq is up 5.9%; the gains of the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones YTD are +4.2% and +3.5%, respectively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.64 points (+0.3%) to 34,302.61 on Friday; the S&P 500 was up 0.40% to 3,999.09, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.71% to 11,079.16 points.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reported their second consecutive week of gains and their best weekly performance since last November.
The Nasdaq was the best performer, jumping 4.82%. The S&P 500 advanced 2.67% on a weekly basis, while the Dow Jones was up 2%.
The US quarterly season began last Friday with the publication of the accounts of the big banking giants, which presented a cautious outlook, with the CEOs predicting in most cases the advent of a recession in the United States.
Wells Fargo, which reported earnings nearly halved from the year-ago quarter, said it was preparing for an economy “that will tend to get worse than conditions in recent quarters.”
JP Morgan beat expectations, but warned it was making more provisions to cover any non-performing loans (NPLs), as its main scenario is one of “a moderate recession”.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, JP Morgan made provisions up 49% compared to the third quarter.
The CEOs of Citigroup and Bank of America also said they anticipate a “moderate recession.”