Wall Street remains quite uncertain this Friday, the S&P 500 painfully gaining 0.02% to 4,557 pts and the Dow Jones gaining 0.30% to 35,378 pts, compared to a drop of 0.25% on the Nasdaq to 14,230 pts – with Nvidia and Apple. Wall Street, on break yesterday for Thanksgiving, reopens this Friday for a short session which will end at 7 p.m. French time. This “Black Friday”, usually marked by a certain excitement on the American market around consumer values, is a little more depressed than usual, while the latest financial forecasts from major US retailers for the holiday season end of the year were generally uneventful.
Economic and financial news is extremely limited today across the Atlantic. The preliminary American PMI indicators published this Friday were mixed, with the manufacturing index coming in at 49.4 versus the FactSet consensus of 50.2 and the services indicator at 50.8 versus the expected 50.7. The flash composite PMI index for November thus stood at 50.7, very close to the expectations of local economists.
For the moment, the narrative has not really evolved on Wall Street, despite the multiple signals of weakness in consumption as the end-of-year holidays approach. Investors are still playing the scenario of the end of monetary tightening and that of a relatively soft landing for the economy.
Earlier today, and elsewhere in the world, investors learned of a Japanese consumer price index up 3.3% in October, as expected. Japan’s preliminary Markit/JMMA manufacturing index came in below expectations at 48.1. The final German GDP for the third quarter was down 0.1% from one quarter to the next according to Destatis, as expected. The GfK British consumer confidence index for November came in at -24, compared to -27 consensus. Germany’s Ifo business climate index came in quite close to expectations at 87.3 in November.
On the Nymex, a barrel of WTI crude lost 0.4% to $76.8. The ounce of gold gains 0.4% over $2,000. The dollar index fell by 0.3% against a basket of currencies. The yield on the 2-year T-Bond rises to 4.95%, compared to 4.48% on the 10-year and 4.61% on the 30-year.
Values
Nvidia (-1%), the graphics and AI chip giant, is losing further ground this Friday, after dropping 2.5% on Wednesday evening following impressive quarterly accounts. The group’s Chinese customers have been informed, according to Reuters, of the postponement of the launch of a new AI chip, the H20, specifically designed to comply with American export rules. The launch would be postponed to the first quarter of next year, according to two sources close to the matter cited by the agency. The H20 chip is the most powerful of three developed for China by Nvidia following new US export restrictions, according to Reuters sources. These new products were to be launched this month. The launch of the H20 could ultimately take place in February or March. The postponement could be explained by problems encountered by server manufacturers during the integration of the chip, adds the Reuters agency. Nvidia planned two other chips for China, the L20 and the L2. Reuters sources indicated that the launch of the L20 was not delayed.
Nvidia, the driving force behind the stock market rally in recent months in artificial intelligence on Wall Street, suffered on the stock market on Wednesday even though the group shattered the profit and revenue consensus for the closed quarter on Tuesday evening. Forecasts for the current quarter are also significantly higher than expected. The markets remain cautious mainly due to management’s comments regarding the Chinese market, but also an extremely demanding stock market valuation at $1.2 trillion.
Apple (-1%) hesitates, falling on Wall Street this Friday, while iPhone sales for Singles’ Day in China, from October 30 to November 12, would have declined by 4% in volume and at an annual rate. Sales of local rivals Huawei and Xiaomi over the same period, on the other hand, would have soared by 66 and 28% respectively, according to Counterpoint Research data relayed in particular by Reuters. Overall smartphone sales growth over the period in China was 5% year-over-year. Reuters notes that the price of Apple’s latest iPhone 15 model starts at 5,999 yuan, while Huawei’s Mate 60 smartphones start at 5,499 yuan. Xiaomi’s Mi 14 costs 3,999 yuan.
Among Chinese online commerce platforms, JD.com for its part indicated the value of the volume of transactions on Apple products exceeded 10 billion yuan over the period considered… Apple launched its iPhone 15 range at the end of September, about a month after Huawei offered its Mate 60 series powered by Huawei’s independently developed advanced chip. Xiaomi launched its Mi 14 series in late October. In addition to the competitive aspect, Counterpoint analysts attribute Apple’s disappointing performance in China to supply chain issues that limited the availability of the iPhone 15.
iRobot soars by 33% on Wall Street towards $40, while three Reuters sources claimed that Amazon (-1%) was on the verge of obtaining the unconditional green light from the European Commission for the acquisition of the designer of autonomous vacuum cleaners for $1.4 billion. The European Commission had warned Amazon in July that the agreement could reduce competition in the robot vacuum cleaner sector and strengthen the dominant position of the American company as an online supplier. The Commission must decide on the agreement by February 14. The deal announced in August would add the Roomba robot vacuum to Amazon’s portfolio of smart devices.
