Wall Street ended mixed, with -0.55% on the Dow Jones, -0.3% on the S&P500 and +0.25% on the Nasdaq Composite (which gained +1.2% an hour after opening). After the roller-coaster ride at the start of the session, volatility subsided after 6.00 pm (Paris time), and by 6.30 pm, all bets were off.

Most of the Nasdaq's rise came from Tesla's +5% and Amazon's +2.6%. The SOXX index, which had tumbled by -7.6% the previous day, failed to rebound and fell by a further -0.5%. Broadcom was down -7% after the close, with sales in line with consensus, but forecasts less optimistic than expected.

Investors reacted moderately to the ADP (Automatic Data Processing) report, according to which the US private sector generated only 99,000 additional jobs last month, a number well below expectations and the lowest since 2021.

'The labor market continued to cool in August. Job creation by private-sector employers slowed for a fifth consecutive month, and wage growth remained stable', ADP emphasized in its report.

A slight upward revision, however, in non-farm productivity, which rose by 2.5% at an annualized rate in the second quarter of 2024 according to the Labor Department's second estimate, compared with 2.3% announced in the first reading.

Given this strong rise in productivity, a 3% increase in hourly wages translated into a 0.4% increase in non-farm unit labor costs over the past quarter.

The last figure on Thursday's agenda, the ISM services index, came in virtually unchanged at 51.5 in August versus 51.4 in July, but above consensus. However, the employment component fell to 50.2, compared with 51.1 the month before.

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