Wall Street continues in the green after seven positive sessions

The New York Stock Exchange was up on Wednesday, after seven positive sessions in a row, while the earnings season is in full swing.

Around 2:14 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones index gained 0.72%, the technology-dominated Nasdaq gained 0.25% and the broader S&P 500 index advanced by 0.43%.

The day before, the Dow Jones index rose 1.06% to 34,951.93 points. The Nasdaq and the broader S&P 500 index had reached their highest level since April 2022, rising 0.76%, to 14,353.64 points, and 0.71%, to 4,554.98 points respectively.

This start in the green on Wednesday was despite the disappointment brought by the results of Goldman Sachs. After starting in decline, its title gained 1.54%.

The US merchant bank’s net profit fell 62% in the second quarter to $1.1 billion, hit again by a lack of M&A deals as well as lower activity in asset management.

Its earnings per share amounted to 3.08 dollars for the quarter, against 7.73 dollars a year earlier. Analysts had expected $3.10.

Several regional banks, closely watched after the March banking crisis, reported mixed results. Initially in decline, Western Alliance jumped 2.25%, while its profit was below expectations, while the maintenance of deposits was better than expected.

Overall, the indices seemed set for another beneficial session but, according to Patrick O’Hare, an analyst at Briefing.com, “in the short term, the market is overbought in particular megacaps and a decline will be in the order of things”.

B. Riley Wealth Management analyst Art Hogan said stocks “defied skeptics and continued to rally this year in the face of banking meltdowns, ongoing recession fears and weaker corporate earnings forecasts.”

Earnings season is off to a good start so far, with 82% of S&P 500 companies having published their quarterly accounts beating expectations.

On Wednesday, just after the closing of the stock market, we expect in particular the results of Tesla (+ 1.12%) and Netflix (-0.36%). Both stocks have been among the year’s favorites, with Tesla up 12% this month and 138% year-to-date. The title of Netflix gained 7.8% in July and 61% this year.

United Airlines (+0.24%) and IBM (+0.62%) are also on the program.

The title of Microsoft was down slightly (-0.45%), after reaching a new record the day before at 359.49 dollars, representing a market capitalization of 2.7 trillion dollars, the second after Apple.

The software giant announced on Wednesday morning that it was pushing back to October 18 the deadline for the acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard. This additional time is supposed to allow them to overcome the last regulatory obstacles, in particular in the United Kingdom. Activision shares yielded 0.56%.

Elsewhere on the stock market, online car retailer Carvana jumped nearly 29% as the struggling group struck a deal with creditors to cut its $1.2 billion debt load.

In terms of indicators, housing starts fell 8% in June, a disappointing performance.

In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasury bills were stable at 3.78%.