Wall Street ended in the red overall on Thursday, as the latest indicators on the job market - on the eve of the monthly report from the Labor Department - rekindled fears that the Federal Reserve would refrain from cutting rates in March.

While the Dow Jones just managed to finish in positive territory, with a symbolic gain to 37,440 points, the S&P500 lost more than 0.3% to under 4,689 points and the Nasdaq Composite retreated by almost 0.6% to 14,510 points.

According to the monthly survey published by ADP, the US private sector generated 164,000 new jobs in December, a figure that was more than double that of the previous month.000 new jobs in December, well above both consensus and the previous month's figures.

The Labor Department reported 202,000 new jobless claims in the US last week, down 18.000 on the previous week.

Lastly, the US private sector saw its activity growth accelerate very slightly in December, according to S&P Global, whose composite PMI index came in at 50.9, compared with 51 in flash estimate and 50.7 for the previous month.

From the market's point of view, this rather solid data - which testified to the robustness of the job market - reinforced the feeling that the Fed's key rates should remain at their current levels for the time being.

Several profit warnings also cast a shadow, such as that of food group Conagra Brands (-1.8%), which revised its annual forecasts downwards, citing a "persistently difficult macroeconomic environment".

Walgreens Boots Alliance dropped 5.1%, as the drugstore chain announced a near halving (-48%) of its quarterly dividend per share, on the occasion of the publication of its results for the first quarter of 2023-24.

Finally, Mobileye fell by 24.5% after the company, which specializes in autonomous driving technologies, issued a warning on its 2024 results due to high inventory levels among its customers.

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