Wall Street finished on a more hesitant note a day after setting new records. Declines came from technology stocks, especially Alphabet which lost 7.5% after disappointing results. The Nasdaq fell 0.73 At 7.781 points, the S & P500 lost 0.01% to 2.943 points. In contrast, the DJ modestly gained 0.15% to 26.593 points.
So far, just under half (46%) of the S&P 500 companies have released their first quarter accounts, and 77% of them have done better than expected in terms of profits, while 59% published sales above the consensus according to Factset.
Analysts still expect a decline in earnings of the S&P 500 compared to the first quarter of 2018, but this decline would now be 2.3%, instead of -4% expected end of March.
Inflation for its part has remained very moderate, which suggests the continuation of an accommodative monetary policy on the part of the Federal Reserve, which was set to meet Tuesday and today. In the middle of a monetary meeting of the US central bank (Fed), which is due to close Wednesday with a press conference by its president Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for a drop in interest rates, criticizing the central bank that it has “constantly” raised rates and slowed the economy.
The cost index of the employment came out unsurprisingly up 0.7% in the United States, a figure similar to that of the previous month.
US consumer confidence (Conference Board) improved more than expected in April to 129.2 points, against 124.2 points in March, beyond the expectations of analysts who expected a level of 127 points on average. The Chicago PMI came in at 52.6 in the United States, lower than the consensus of place at a level of 59 after 58.7 the previous month.
Real estate prices in the 20 largest metropolises in the United States rose 3% year-on-year in February, marking a stronger-than-expected slowdown compared with January, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index. Economists on average forecast an increase of 3.2% over one year. The January figure was revised down to 3.5% from 3.6% originally announced.
