Wall Street opens higher, rebounds after three sessions in the red

The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Tuesday and rebounded after three consecutive sessions of decline, in a market still in doubt over the spread of the Omicron variant.

Around 2:55 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones rose 0.81% to 35,213.62 points, the Nasdaq index, with a strong technological flavor, gained 0.63% to 15,075.10 points, and the extended S&P index 500, 0.62% at 4,596.22 points.

“We are entitled to a rebound this morning, which can be attributed to the fact that fears have been a little exaggerated, as well as (Joe) Biden’s new program”, to combat the rise of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, explained Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

The government will make available to Americans some 500 million home screening tests for Covid-19, but also mobilize military healthcare personnel to deal with the increase in hospitalizations.

Joe Biden also decided not to put in place new health restrictions, especially in terms of travel.

For Patrick O’Hare, of Briefing.com, the major indices having fallen below technical thresholds (the average level of the last 50 sessions), they were “positioned for a rebound”.

“What is to be hoped is that the inflection of the opening, which is essentially mechanical, will hold until the close,” added the analyst, in a note.

In Congress, discussions continue to find a favorable outcome to the massive plan (1.750 billion dollars) of social and environmental measures of the Biden government, which the moderate senator Joe Manchin, whose support is crucial, refuses for the moment to vote. .

Unsurprisingly, many growth stocks, roughed up in recent days, put their noses out the window Tuesday, such as graphics card maker Nvidia (+ 1.01%), Tesla (+ 0.64%) or the semiconductor specialist AMD (+ 1.19%).

Another sign of a renewed appetite for risk, bond yields were rising, showing a shift from bonds to other assets. The average rate of US 10-year government bonds stood at 1.46% against 1.41% the day before.

Nike’s results were praised by investors (+ 5.89% to 166.23 dollars), who retained the high margin more than the weak growth in turnover (+ 1%), mainly due to the persistence of supply disruptions.

The group, whose figures were drawn by North America, confirmed its objective of 5% increase in turnover over its postponed fiscal year 2022 (from June to May).

Food giant General Mills did not fare as well (-4.27% to $ 64.89), with a gross margin down 4 percentage points.

The company, which controls the Cheerios or Häagen-Dazs brands, raised prices for many of its products, but that was not enough to offset soaring costs.

The drugstore chain Rite Aid was hovering (+ 15.22% to 14.29 dollars) after the publication of mixed results. Turnover came out below expectations, but the group, which announced the closure of at least 63 points of sale, raised its forecast for operating profit for its entire 2022 fiscal year (from March to February).

Already attacked Monday, the Novavax (-9.91%) and Moderna (-6.21%) laboratories were again targeted, despite the European green light for the vaccine of the first and encouraging clinical results against Omicron for the second . Pfizer (-5.51%) and Merck (-1.83%) were also down.