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The Dow Jones index was down after the opening on Wall Street on Friday for the third session in a row, worried about the rise in restrictions in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, while the technology-dominated Nasdaq continued to break new records.
At 15:00 GMT, the Dow Jones index was down 0.61%, the Nasdaq was up 0.52%, the S&P 500 was down 0.03%.
On Thursday, the stock index lost 0.17% to 35,870.95 points. The high-tech Nasdaq was up 0.45% at 15,993.71 points, a new record. The S&P 500 extended index also hit a record 4,704.54 points, up 0.34%.
The announcement of a general confinement of the population in Austria with the obligation to be vaccinated and the restrictive measures which resurface in Germany weighed on the morale of investors.
The market is “on the defensive, because of concerns related to Covid, fueled by the national lockdown imposed in Austria for ten days to stop the surge in cases”, said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.
“Other European countries, including Germany, have also put in place restrictive measures aimed at slowing the spread of the Covid”, he continued adding that these measures weighed on an already weak euro, which lost 0.60% against the greenback at 1.13 dollars, close to its lowest in 16 months reached on Wednesday (1.1264 dollars) .
As the day before, investors favored technology stocks, while, in the bond market, rates relaxed, concerned about the rise in contagion that could slow the economy. Rates on 10-year Treasury bills stood at 1.54% versus 1.58%.
“Thursday the technology sector had been stimulated by big names in technology, such as Nvidia (+ 8.3% Thursday), Amazon (+ 4.1%) and Apple (+ 2.9%), allowing the Nasdaq to post his 66th record of the year “, said Art Hogan of National Securities.
Results
The titles of vaccine manufacturers Pfizer (+ 1.98%) and Moderna (+ 9%) were greeted after the announcement by the American health authorities of the green light for a third dose of anti-Covid vaccine for all fully vaccinated adults at least six months ago.
The announcement comes as cases are on the rise again in the United States, with an average of 85,000 new cases of Covid-19 daily (up from around 70,000 at the end of October), and around 1,000 deaths per day.
The fall of the Dow Jones was driven by that of energy giants like Chevron (-1.80%) and Exxon (-3.47%).
The S&P 500 energy sector lost 2.53% in the wake of falling crude prices, also worried about the consequences of renewed health measures in Europe on economic recovery and oil demand. Financials were also losing momentum, with the easing of rates: Wells Fargo, CitiGroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America all lost more than 2%.
The software group Intuit was celebrated (+ 11.60% to 701 dollars) after having surprised analysts with a quasi-doubling of its turnover in the first quarter and an improvement in its outlook.
Intuit said the progress was due to its acquisitions this year of Credit Karma for $ 8 billion, a popular site assessing the creditworthiness of consumers applying for loans, and the MailChimp marketing services platform for $ 12 billion.
The White House also announced Friday that US President Joe Biden was temporarily transferring powers to his vice president, Kamala Harris, while he was going to undergo a “routine” colonoscopy.
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