A few buy orders on cyclical stocks enabled the most battered indices, such as the Nasdaq 100 to regain ground. Meta, Broadcom and Alphabet managed to offset earnings disappointments, which saw Accenture and Micron fall by more than 4% at the close. Corporate results will rapidly become a major focus over the coming weeks, once the market digests the current issues, including a potential shutdown and extra rate hike. The first major third-quarter release will be PepsiCo on Tuesday October 10, followed by BlackRock, UnitedHealth and JPMorgan Chase on October 13. The first announcements from companies in the off-year are rather cautious on the outlook for consumption in 2024, although Nike shone yesterday with its outlook.

The previous day's rebound was boosted by rumors of easing China US relations, even though everyone knows it’s just for show. The Wall Street Journal understands that the latest diplomatic efforts between the two powers could lead to a summit between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. At the same time, data on US consumer sentiment was less robust than expected, and a member of the Fed was rather optimistic about inflation control. Always quick to see the bottle as half-full, equity investors deduced that the US central bank might be a little more flexible in its policy. I should add that Jerome Powell's speech yesterday offered no surprise: the Fed boss put aside monetary policy issues to focus on the subject of the meeting, education.

Today, inflation data is in the spotlight and there was some good news coming from Europe, with Germany Spain, France and generally the eurozone recording lower-than-expected inflation in September.

In the US, the personal consumption expenditures price index, the gauge favored by the Federal Reserve, climbed 0.4% in August, against estimates of a 0.5% rise. Excluding volatile food and energy components, the core PCE price index expanded by 0.1% in August, compared with estimates of 0.2%. It fell to a 3.9% year-over-year rate, in line with expectations.

U.S. stock index futures rose after the data, which raised hopes that there would be no new Fed rate hike this year.

However, this good Friday is probably not enough to save a September which, as usual, has been a trying month for the equity markets. On the S&P500, for example, September has been calamitous for the past four years: -4% in 2020, -4.8% in 2021, -9.3% in 2022 and -4.6% in 2023 on the morning of the last monthly session.

A final word on Asia, where troubles for Chinese property developers continues. In the latest episode, the boss of China Evergrande has been arrested. Beijing applies this technique in two situations: when a boss becomes too powerful and too popular. This is the Jack Ma jurisprudence. Or when he bears the infamous mark of failure. This is what probably happened to Xu Jiayin (which is his Mandarin name, and also called Hui Ka Yan in Chinese, I found out this morning).

Today's economic highlights:

European September inflation, PCE inflation, trade balance, household income & spending and wholesaler inventories, as well as Chicago PMI and the second reading of the University of Michigan consumer confidence index are on the agenda. 

The dollar is down to EUR 0.9443 and GBP 0.8161. The ounce of gold is worth USD 1869. North Sea Brent is trading at USD 93.98 a barrel and US light crude WTI at USD 92.94. The yield on 10-year US debt reached 4.59%. Bitcoin is flirting with USD 27,000.

In corporate news:

  • Nike climbs 7.9% in pre-market trading after the sports equipment maker reports better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of its fiscal year on Thursday evening, as higher prices offset slowing demand.
  • Apple has met with Chinese officials in recent months to discuss new rules that will prevent the US tech giant from offering in China several programs from foreign publishers currently available on its app store, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
  • JetBlue Airways announced on Friday that it had filed a complaint against the Netherlands and the European Union with the U.S. Department of Transportation following the Dutch government's decision to reduce traffic at Amsterdam's Schipol airport.
  • Qualcomm - The UK competition authority, the CMA, announced on Friday that it was investigating whether Qualcomm's takeover of Israeli automotive chipmaker Autotalks was likely to reduce competition in the UK market.
  • Boeing will pay $8.1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the aerospace group violated U.S. law by failing to meet contractual obligations in its production of V-22 Osprey aircraft, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
  • EquiLend Holdings, the securities lending platform owned by ten of Wall Street's largest financial institutions, is considering a sale of the company following an abuse of dominance lawsuit, sources close to the matter told Reuters. Euronext is among the candidates interested in a takeover, the sources added.
  • Nio jumped 5.3% in pre-market trading, as two sources reported that the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer was considering an alliance with Mercedes-Benz, in which the German group would invest in its capital in exchange for technological collaboration.
  • Endeavor Group and Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise, have expressed interest in investing in the PGA Tour, the professional golf circuit, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

Analyst recommendations:

  • Accenture plc-a: Societe Generale maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 373 to USD 344.
  • Albemarle corp: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 250 to USD 225.
  • American express: Piper Sandler & Co maintains its underweight recommendation with a price target raised from USD 149 to USD 150.
  • American tower c: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 225 to USD 198.
  • Baker hughes co: ATB Capital Markets Inc. maintains its outperform rating and raises the target price from USD 38 to USD 39.
  • Ball corp: Jefferies upgrades to buy from hold with a price target raised from USD 63 to USD 64.
  • Block inc: Piper Sandler & Co maintains its overweight recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 83 to USD 77.
  • Canadian national railway: Citi maintains its neutral recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 122 to USD 115.
  • Ceres power hold: Goodbody maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from GBP 5.42 to GBP 4.92.
  • Costco wholesale: Daiwa Securities maintains a neutral recommendation with a price target increased from USD 508 to USD 560.
  • Crown castle inc: Deutsche Bank maintains its hold recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 121 to USD 110.
  • Digital realty: Deutsche Bank maintains its hold recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 131 to USD 129.
  • Discover financi: Piper Sandler & Co maintains its neutral recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 104 to USD 100.
  • Domino's pizza: Citi maintains its neutral recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 431 to USD 398.
  • Equinix inc: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 825 to USD 800.
  • Fmc corp: Jefferies maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 120 to USD 102.
  • Huntington banc: Citi upgrades to buy from not primary analyst with a target price of USD 12.
  • Illumina inc: HSBC maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 230 to USD 170.
  • Intercontinental: Goldman Sachs maintains its neutral recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 125 to USD 123.
  • Intertek group: Citi maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 49.73 to GBP 50.55.
  • Land securities: Shore Capital downgrades to hold from sell.
  • M&g plc: Barclays maintains its underweight recommendation with a price target raised from GBP 1.90 to GBP 2.
  • Nike inc -cl b: Goldman Sachs maintains its buy recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 145 to USD 136.
  • Paypal holdings: Piper Sandler & Co maintains a neutral recommendation with a price target reduced from USD 77 to USD 67.
  • Premier foods: Peel Hunt maintains its buy recommendation with a target price increased from GBX 153 to GBX 157.
  • Prudential plc: Keefe Bruyette & Woods maintains its outperform rating and reduces the target price from GBX 1550 to GBX 1350.
  • Reckitt benckise: Barclays maintains its overweight recommendation with a price target reduced from GBP 77 to GBP 74.
  • Resmed inc: Wolfe Research downgrades to peerperform from outperform.
  • Tractor supply: Wolfe Research resumes coverage with an outperform rating and a target price of USD 239.
  • Trimble: Raymond James upgrades to outperform from market perform with a target price of USD 65.
  • Uk commercial pr: Peel Hunt maintains its hold recommendation with a price target reduced from GBX 60 to GBX 55.
  • United parcel-b: Raymond James maintains its strong buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 205 to USD 200.
  • Zscaler inc: Morgan Stanley maintains its equal weight/attractive recommendation and raises the target price from USD 145 to USD 155.