Wall Street ends the session this Wednesday in dispersed order. Operators have continued to closely monitor the Nvidia file, which has been very volatile since Friday’s sudden downward turn. At the close, the S&P 500 returned -0.19% to 5,165 pts. The Dow Jones rose +0.10% to 39,043 pts. The Nasdaq fell by -0.54% to 16,177 pts, still dependent on Nvidia’s fluctuations.
Yesterday, the markets were therefore following the American consumer price index for February 2024, which showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, against a FactSet consensus of +0.4%. Excluding food and energy, volatile elements, the February CPI also increased by 0.4% compared to January, while the consensus was +0.3%. Over one year, the consumer price index increased by 3.2%, or 3.8% excluding food and energy, against consensuses of +3.1% and +3.7% respectively… The deficit February budget, announced yesterday evening, stood at $296.3 billion, close to the Bloomberg consensus but larger than the FactSet consensus.
On the oil markets, a barrel of WTI crude rose +2.02% to $79.65. The barrel of Brent is also very firm, up +1.93% to $83.95.
Oil prices are firm after the announcement of a surprise drop in crude reserves in the United States last week. According to the US Department of Energy, domestic crude stocks, excluding strategic reserves, fell by 1.5 million barrels during the week ended March 8 to 447 mb. The consensus was expecting an increase of 0.9 mb. Gasoline stocks fell by 5.7 mb (-1.9 mb expected), and those of distilled products increased by 0.9 million barrels (-0.2 mb expected).
The dollar fell slightly (-0.18%) and traded at 0.9133 per euro.
An ounce of gold returns -0.32% to $2,174.
Bitcoin hit a new day record, at an all-time high of $73,672.14. Up nearly 11% over the rolling week, Bitcoin ended the day up +2.79% at $73,113.
Tomorrow Thursday, the macroeconomic program will be quite busy, with weekly unemployment claims for the week ending March 9 (consensus 218,000, at 1:30 p.m.), the producer price index for the month of February (same time, consensus + 0.3% compared to the previous month and +0.2% excluding food and energy; +1.1% and +1.9% year-on-year), as well as February retail sales (1:30 p.m., consensus +0 .7% compared to January, +0.4% excluding automobiles, +0.2% excluding automobiles and gasoline). Business inventories for the month of January will also be announced.
Finally, on Friday, for Four Witches Day, investors will follow the New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing index for the month of March (consensus -8), import and export prices for the month of February, industrial production numbers for February (consensus stable), and the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index for March (consensus 77.4).
In corporate news, Adobe, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty, Wheaton Precious Metals and Dick’s Sporting Goods announced Thursday. Jabil will publish on Friday.
Values
* Dollar Tree (-14.21% to $128.42). The American discount retailer published revenues for its 2023 fiscal year up 8% to $30.6 billion, with a comparable increase of 5.8% for the eponymous brand and a decline of 1.2% at Family. Dollar in the 4th quarter alone. Adjusted earnings per share for the 4th quarter were $2.55, an increase of 25%, while adjusted EPS for the year fell 18% to $5.89. The consensus for the closed quarter was $2.65. For the 2024 fiscal year this time, the group is planning revenues ranging from $31 to $32 billion, while diluted EPS is anticipated between $6.70 and $7.30.
Dollar Tree is taking action after the lower-than-expected quarter. The group unveils plans to close 970 Family Dollar stores, including 600 in the first half and 370 more in the second half. The group recorded a charge of $594.4 million for portfolio optimization and goodwill impairment charges of $1.07 billion, as well as $950 million of other items in the quarter. Thus, Dollar Tree deplores a net loss of $1.71 billion in the 4th quarter compared to a profit of $452 million a year before.
* Tesla (-4.54% to $169.48). Elon Musk’s group is still losing ground to Wall Street, victim of a downgrade from Wells Fargo. The broker has just revised its recommendation from ‘line weight’ to ‘underweight’. The intermediary’s price target on Tesla is significantly reduced, to $125 (previously $200). The broker sees declining risks on sales volumes while price reductions have an increasingly weak impact. Thus, Wells Fargo fears disappointing deliveries and further price cuts, which should translate into downward revisions to earnings per share estimates.
* GE HealthCare Technologies (-3.64% to $88.48). The parent company of GE will further reduce its stake in the capital of the medical equipment supplier as part of an issue in the form of a secondary offering of 14 million shares, revised upwards since 13 million shares were previously considered. GE HealthCare is not selling any securities as part of the transaction and will not receive proceeds from the sale, as the transaction takes the form of a debt-for-equity exchange.
* Nvidia (-1.12% to $908.88). Boosted yesterday by Oracle’s hint of a future partnership, the stock was relatively hesitant and volatile this Wednesday. Note that Bank of America has, however, increased its price target on the graphics processor and AI giant from $925 to $1,100. The broker also maintains its purchase recommendation. BofA considers the value “still attractive”, before the GTC technology conference which begins on March 18. The intermediary notes that the file’s PER remains well anchored in the historical average, despite the rally of recent months.
* IBM (-0.55% to $196.7). The American technology giant drops out. According to CNBC, IBM would cut positions in marketing and communications. The group reportedly declared on Tuesday to employees of its marketing and communications division that it was going to significantly reduce its workforce, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, cited by CNBC. Jonathan Adashek, IBM’s communications director, reportedly made the announcement during a roughly seven-minute meeting with staff members at the unit, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous because the news has not been made public. In December, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told CNBC that the company was “massively upskilling” its employees in AI, after announcing a plan in August to replace nearly 8,000 jobs with AI .
