Corporate earnings once again dominated Wall Street on Monday, as Goldman Sachs’ (-3.8%) results were not well-received, while JP Morgan (-1.1%) earnings also failed to impress investors. The results of Citigroup (-0.07%) were better perceived but without triggering enthusiasm. The Walt Disney (+1.5%) in contrast, has risen to its highest level on Monday after the announcement Friday of a streaming video service to only $6.99 per month that is hurting shares of the sector leader, Netflix. Oil prices have corrected after remarks by the Russian Finance Minister suggesting a possible end of the agreement to reduce production with OPEC.
At the close, the Dow Jones index dropped 0.10% Monday evening to 26,384 points, while the broad index S & P 500 fell 0.06% to 2,905 pts, staying above the psychological threshold of 2,900 points that it had crossed on Friday. The Nasdaq composite decreased 0.10% to 7.976 pts.
Elsewhere, the European markets finished slightly higher (+0.08% for the EuroStoxx 50) and Asia progressed (+1.37% for the Nikkei and +0.4% for the Kospi) supported by encouraging statistics from China (increase in credits, jump in exports in March). The composite Shanghai index, however, fell 0.3% on Monday (but has jumped 27% since January 1).
The three US indices have just recorded 3 weeks of consecutive increase, which led them not far from their highest historical levels, reached in 2018. Thus, the DJIA and the Nasdaq are no more than about 1.7% below their highs and the S & P 500 (risen above 2,900 points for the first time in 6 months) is now at only 0.9% of its highest historical of 2,930 points, entered on September 20, 2018.
In economic news in the United States, the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index for the month of April 2019 came out strong and higher than market expectations at 10.1 Compared to 6.8.
