Wall Street sign its fifth straight session of decline
Wall Street has ended in decline for the fifth straight session Thursday, its lowest level in four months, economic indicators considered disappointing in addition to concerns related to the crisis in the euro area.
The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 1.24%, or 156.06 points to 12,442.49 points. The S & P-500, wider, lost 19.94 points, or 1.51%, to 1304.86. The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 60.35 points (-2.1%) to 2,813.69 points.
The index of leading indicators, which prefigures the evolution of economic activity in the United States, fell in April for the first time in seven months, while the conditions index of manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve declined against all odds to reach its lowest since September.
In addition, weekly jobless claims remained stable last week, while a slight fall was expected, given that feeds a concern about the strength of the recovery of the U.S. economy.
The crisis in the euro area also continues to weigh on investor sentiment.
Financing costs in Spain rose sharply at an auction took place in the morning. The journéea also saw confirmation that the country fell into recession and a newspaper article citing massive withdrawals of deposits from Bankia , the fourth Spanish bank recently nationalized.
In Greece, banks also suffer from massive withdrawals made by citizens and the rating agency Fitch downgraded the evening of the country's sovereign rating to CCC from B-, citing the increasing risk of the country out of the euro area.
Witness the excitement of investors, the CBOE volatility index has surged almost 10% and hit its highest level since early January.
HOPE TO REBOUND
The S & P 500 fell more than 7% since the beginning of the month, and if volatility is expected to remain at the rendezvous, the duration of the decline observed in equity markets leads some analysts to predict a rebound in the short term.
"We're getting closer when people go back on the market and we do not think it will be much lower than where we are now," said Brad Sorensen for Charles Schwab. "The U.S. is still growing and seem to cope rather well with the rest of the world."
Providing respite on investors, gross domestic product of Japan third world economy grew by 1% from January to March compared with the previous quarter, ie gèrement more than expected. First announced in contraction of 0.2%, the economy has also finally stagnated between October and December.
But on Wall Street, the Nasdaq has suffered from the fall of technology stocks including giant Apple side (-2.9%) but Expedia (-4.4%).
Wal-Mart Stores has however gained 4.2%. The number one global retailer released a better than expected under its fiscal first quarter thanks to strong sales of its U.S. subsidiary.
Sears Holdings took 3% while the group said Thursday an adjusted loss of 31 cents per share in first quarter 2012, well below the loss of 67 cents expected by analysts.