Wall Street is set to open higher on Thursday, amid renewed risk appetite fueled by better-than-expected growth figures, which allay fears of a recession.

Half an hour before the opening, futures contracts on New York's main indices were up between 0.2% and 0.5%, heralding a green opening.

This morning, the Commerce Department announced that GDP growth in the United States had reached 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to a very first estimate, whereas the market was anticipating an increase of around 2%.

Also according to Washington, durable goods orders stabilized in December, whereas the market was expecting them to rise.

The Labor Department announced that weekly jobless claims rose by 15,000 to 214,000 over the past week, confirming the scenario of a gradual softening of the labor market.

All this economic data seems to be pointing to a soft landing for the US economy, without however lowering expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut in March.

Traders consider that there is a 46% chance that the Federal Reserve will cut rates at its March 20 meeting, compared with 40% yesterday, according to CME Group's Fedwatch barometer.

The strength of the US economy wipes out the effects of Tesla's disappointing results published last night, which were punished by a decline of almost 9% in pre-market trading.

Profits, sales and gross margins were not up to scratch in the fourth quarter, and the warning that sales could be significantly lower this year will not help investors feel comfortable", reacted Josh Gilbert, market analyst for eToro.

IBM, on the other hand, is expected to rise by 7% at the opening following the announcement of a positive outlook for 2024, with the American IT group capitalizing on its expertise in AI.

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