The Dow Jones index advanced 0.76% to 33,629.56 points, the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.01% to 11,364.41 points and the broader S&P 500 index gained 1.19% , going back above 4,000 points, to 4,019.81 points.

"Markets are focused on corporate results and although so far they are, in my view, a little disappointing, equities are doing well," said Hugh Johnson of economic consultancy Hugh Johnson Economics. highlighting the best performance in the technology and optional spending sectors.

No less than 11 member companies of the Dow Jones index, or a third of them, will publish their quarterly and often annual results this week.

From Tuesday are expected including Johnson and Johnson, 3M, General Electric and Microsoft.

On Wednesday, investors will watch for Boeing and Tesla.

But, according to Mr. Johnson, it is above all the future attitude of the American central bank (Federal Reserve or Fed) which motivated the mood of the market.

Investors are "leaning towards the idea that the Fed will ease off on interest rate hikes, which means better economic times, better corporate results and better stock prices," he said. -it sums.

The Fed, which is meeting its Monetary Committee next week, is heading, according to several of its members, towards a lower rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point, compared to half a point in December.

"The big expectation now for the Federal Reserve is that it will raise rates by just a quarter of a percentage point in February but also in March," Johnson said.

"Furthermore, based on the evolution of fed funds-based futures products, investors are starting to think the Fed is going to consider a rate cut in the last quarter of 2023," he said.

According to him, the market is therefore leaning "slightly towards optimism and it shows in the performance of the shares".

On the stock side, Salesforce was sought after (+3.09%), after the announcement of a sharp increase in the stake in the IT group of the activist investment fund Elliott Management.

Elliott now has a stake of "several billion dollars" in the capital of the software group, a close source said, which would represent a major investment compared to its participation so far.

Spotify, the world's number one audio platform, a Swedish group listed on Wall Street, gained 2.08% to 99.95 dollars after announcing the loss of 600 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, the last episode in a series major layoffs at the Internet giants to reduce their costs.

The title of the online furniture sales site Wayfair soared 26.86% to 59.36 dollars, after its decision to cut costs and its workforce led to the publication of a favorable note from banking analysts.

The group, very prosperous in the United States during the pandemic, announced on Friday that it was going to shed 10% of its staff, or 1,750 jobs.

The action had already gained 20% in the wake of this announcement.

Investors reacted modestly to the announcement of an expansion of a partnership between Microsoft and the specialist in artificial intelligence OpenAI, creator of the conversational robot ChatGPT, with an investment of "several billion dollars".

Microsoft shares rose 0.98% to $242.58.

Tesla gained 7.74% to $143.75, pending its results on Wednesday and while its boss Elon Musk returned to the stand in San Francisco on Monday at the trial where he is accused of fraud by investors for having tweeted more than four years ago that he intended to take the automaker off the stock market.

Semiconductor maker AMD jumped nearly 9.22% on a strong rating from banking analysts.

In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasury bills stretched slightly to 3.52% from 3.47% on Friday.

© 2023 AFP