Wall Street: the scenario was almost perfect, except for T-Bonds

(CercleFinance.com) - What a weekly scenario, and what a weekend, with a happy ending worthy of the most enchanting fairy tales.


The US indices are all - simultaneously - at their annual zenith, 5 sessions away from the "4 Witches" on December 15.

The end-of-year "balance sheet dressing" seems to be actively underway, and the bullish rally that began on October 27 will be among the most "productive" of the 21st century. Above all, it is the first to see the US indices return to their previous long-term records at 6-month intervals, and then at 2-year intervals.

The S&P500 (+0.41%) improved its annual record by 2pts to 4,609 (a "high" since March 2022) and its closing record by +14pts to 4,602.9 (i.e. +0.1% weekly): the index completed its 6th week of consecutive gains without having lost more than 0.8% since October 27.
The Dow Jones advanced by +0.3% to 36.263 (+0.05% weekly), the best close of the year and the highest since early January 2022 (2% off its all-time high).
The Nasdaq (+0.45%) posted its best annual close at 14,404, the annual high of 14.445 on July 17 was equalled: the annual performance reached its maximum with +37.5%, the Nasdaq-100 at 16,090 posted +47% and is aiming for +50%, which would bring the index back into contact with its historic zenith of 16,644 on 11/22/2021 (2 closes at 16.570 on 19/11 and 27/12/2021).

The 'SOX' once again outperformed with +0.7%, with Broadcom +2.5%, Nvidia +2%, NXP +1.8%, Idexx Lab +1.6%.

But not everything is absolutely perfect, as not all the planets end up aligned on the eve of the weekend - as has been the case for the previous 5 weeks - as the day ends with a sharp rise in rates following the publication of the much-anticipated monthly employment report for the United States released by the Labor Department.
The +150,000 consensus was largely surpassed, with almost +200,000, and the unemployment rate, expected to rise to 4.00%, actually fell sharply by -0.2% to 3.7%.

This much higher-than-expected statistic will complicate the Federal Reserve's task of recalibrating its monetary policy: its December 13 speech (final FOMC statement) may be more hawkish than Wall Street had hoped.

As a result, bonds are under considerable pressure, with the US 10-year yield up 13 points at 4.2550%.
US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) is up 2.2% at $71.25, but this is not enough to pull the oil sector out of a downward spiral, with heavy weekly losses such as Halliburton, which is down 7.5%, and Diamondback, down 3.6%.


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