With a strong finish in the green, Wall Street is illustrating one of the most classic scenarios on the eve of the "3 Witches" session, which will conclude a stock market month almost exclusively on the upside, in line with the 15-week bull run that preceded it (this would be the longest weekly bull run in a century, not 52 years).

Indeed, a positive 16th week is in the offing, with - symbolically - a new all-time record for the most emblematic index, the S&P500 (+0.6% to 5,030), which improved by 3.4 points on its previous closing zenith of February 9. The VIX also eased back below the 14 mark. The Dow Jones climbed +0.9% to 38,773, and came within 0.07% of beating Monday's closing record (38,798).

Futures in the after-session foreshadow a positive Friday session, with the Nasdaq-100 (+0.2% on Thursday evening) set to reopen +0.3% higher at 17.900, in the wake of Applied Materials, which soared +10% in electronic trading, thanks to its good quarterly results and positive expectations.

The stars of the day were not semiconductors (the 'SOXX' fell by -0.1%), but electric vehicle manufacturers with Tesla +6.2% and Lucid +5.2%.

The news on the US economic front remains reassuring: while retail sales clearly disappointed, falling more sharply than expected (-0.8%), the New York Fed's 'Empire State' index climbed 41 points in February to -2.4, and the 'Philly Fed' index gained 16 points to +5.2, its first positive reading since August.

Data closely watched by the Fed showed that 212,000 new jobless claims were registered in the US last week, down by 8,000 on the previous week.

The majority of markets still believe that the Fed will not cut rates before June, but the hypothesis of a cut as early as May does not seem totally ruled out (consensus 40%) after today's statistics.

T-Bonds are easing a little after one of their worst sessions since October 2023 on Tuesday: their 10-year yield is down three basis points to 4.235%.

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