A weak start for Wall Street. In New York, the Dow Jones Index and the S&P 500 fell by 0.23% and 0.16% respectively, while the Nasdaq fell by about 0.24%. Among the topics highlighted today on the American market are the minutes from the Fed relating to the meeting at the end of July which revealed the FOMC’s desire to proceed with rate hikes in the coming months to curb the inflation run. Several participants, however, highlighted the risks of excessive monetary tightening and predict that a slowdown in monetary policy normalization will be appropriate at some point.
Investors also continue to monitor the earnings season, with indications coming from numerous big names in the US retail sector. Today’s updates include those of Kohl’s, the American chain of department stores, which communicated the downward revision of the forecasts for the full year 2022 in a context in which galloping inflation prevails. Now the company expects a drop in sales from last year between 5-6%, with the operating margin between 4.2-4.5% (the past estimate was between 7-7.2%) and with earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $ 2.80- $ 3.20, excluding any non-recurring expenses (previously between $ 6.45- $ 6.85).
At a macro level, unemployment benefits are under the lens. In the week ended August 13, the number of US workers who applied for the first time to obtain unemployment benefits stood at 250,000 units compared to analysts’ estimates who expected a weekly reading of + 264,000. The figure is lower than the past reading equal to + 252 thousand (revised figure from + 262 thousand). The Philly Fed index improves to 6.2 in August and beats market expectations.