American indices hesitated on Tuesday before new data on US inflation and the publication of the first quarterly accounts of listed groups. The S&P 500 gained 0.14% to 5,210 pts, but the Dow Jones lost 0.02% to 38,883 pts. The Nasdaq for its part rose 0.32% to 16,306 pts. Risk-taking has therefore been limited, while operators will also be focused on the ECB’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday and the publication of monthly consumer prices in the United States on Wednesday. Crucial figures that should fuel the debate on when the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates…
CPI inflation is expected to increase to 3.4% year-on-year in March, compared to 3.2% in February, while the latest employment figures have somewhat removed the prospect of a reduction in inflation rates. Federal Reserve… But while money markets now only expect two rate cuts this year, former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told ‘Bloomberg TV’ that three cuts remain. “the basic scenario”. For Evercore’s Krishna Guha, “Inflation numbers for March and April will play an outsized role in determining whether the Fed will cut rates in June… We believe the hurdle is not extremely serious and there’s a good chance the data will be good enough to move forward.”
On the bond market, Treasury yields fell quite sharply with the 10-year rate dropping 5.2 bp to 4.368% after reaching its highest level since November yesterday, a hair shy of the psychologically important level of 4.5%. .
On the oil market, a barrel of WTI crude fell 0.6% to $85.35 on the Nymex. The dollar index lost 0.2% against a basket of currencies and Bitcoin fell 3.5% to $69,350. Finally, gold advanced 0.5% to $2,353 per ounce, after hitting a new high at $2,365.
Values
* Lucid gains 2.2%. The California-based company reported deliveries above market expectations for the first quarter as price reductions helped boost demand for its luxury electric sedans. The company delivered 1,967 vehicles during the period, compared to estimates of 1,745 units. On the production side, the group supported by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia manufactured 1,728 vehicles in the first quarter compared to 2,391 during the previous three months.
* Tesla (+2.2%) reached an amicable agreement to settle a dispute concerning the accident that occurred in 2018… An Apple engineer was killed after the Model driver assistance system Autopilot, had left the road near San Francisco. The terms of the agreement were not revealed in court documents published Monday, on the eve of the scheduled date of the trial on this high-profile incident involving driver assistance technologies developed by the car manufacturer. electric vehicles. This case is not the only one for Tesla, which is targeted by a series of legal proceedings for accidents linked to the alleged use of the Autopilot system, risking having to pay large sums in damages and seeing its reputation damaged. This agreement comes as the manufacturer’s boss, Elon Musk, praises the merits of automatic driving systems, which he sees as an important vector of the group’s financial future.
* Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (+0.1%) placed the largest ship order in its history to meet growing demand for cruises. The company will order eight new ships scheduled for delivery between 2026 and 2036, executives told Reuters.
* Southwest Gas Holdings (-0.8%). Centuri Holdings said Monday it was targeting a valuation of up to $1.8 billion for its U.S. IPO.
* Microsoft (+0.4%) will invest around $2.9 billion over the next two years to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) business in Japan, reports the ‘Nikkei’ newspaper citing the group’s president, Brad Smith.
* Applied Materials (+0.6%) could postpone or abandon its $4 billion semiconductor ‘R&D’ center project due to a lack of subsidies, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday…
