The markets were cautious in anticipation of the US elections

The two main candidates, the Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris are tied in national polls but also, more importantly, due to the electoral system, they are neck and neck in several key states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

After benefiting from falling bond yields on Thursday, Wall Street saw them rise again on Friday. The yield on US public debt stood at 4.23%, compared to 4.21% at the close the day before.

“We have to keep an eye on the (government) deficit and how it will affect bond yields and demand for US Treasuries,” said Meghan Shue of the Wilmington Trust, “because whatever the outcome of the election, the budget situation is not looking good.”

The programs of Republican candidate Trump and his Democratic opponent Harris would each lead to increases in public debt, according to several independent evaluations.

The New York stock market was also deprived of its other driving force of the week, business results, which were scarcer this Friday. Investors also had no big indicators to pay attention to.

As is usually the case, the technology sector was on the front line, in particular Tesla (+3.34%), still on the rise after its good results on Wednesday. All major technology stocks closed in the green, including Alphabet (+1.50%).

Over the course of the session, Nvidia (+0.80%) once again became the largest stock market capitalization in the world, ahead of Apple (+0.36%), before falling behind the apple group.

This rebound in the technology sector contrasted with a certain gloom in the Dow Jones, which on Friday recorded its fifth consecutive negative session, after a series of all-time highs.

This was due in particular to McDonald’s (-2.97%), which was still affected by a series of infections linked to its hamburgers, resulting in one death and 75 illnesses.

But the fast food chain was not the only one that suffered, since many old economy values ​​fell, among them Goldman Sachs (-2.27%).

European bags

European stock markets closed mixed this Friday after a week marked by many business results and increased uncertainty due to the proximity of the presidential elections in the United States.

London and Madrid lost 0.25% and 0.23% respectively, while Paris remained practically stable (-0.08%). Frankfurt gained 0.11% and Milan 0.22%.

Unemployment in Spain registers slight decrease in the third quarter

Spain’s unemployment rate fell slightly in the third quarter to reach 11.21% of the active population, compared to 11.27% in the previous quarter, according to official data published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

In total, 2,754,100 people were registered as unemployed as of September 30 in the fourth economy of the euro zone, which is 1,200 less than in the previous quarter, according to the INE.

lThe unemployment rate had fallen sharply in the second quarter, when it registered a drop of 1.02 points compared to the 12.29% it had marked in the first three months of the year, reflecting the strong growth of the Spanish economy.

The number of employed people in the third quarter reached 21.82 million people, which is 138,300 more than the previous quarter, according to the INE.

By sectors of activity, employment increased mainly in services (+152,700) and to a lesser extent in industry (+23,400).

The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, celebrated what he described as “formidable data” in a message on his profile on the social network

Spain’s traditionally high unemployment rate rose sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic to exceed 16% of the active population.

Since then it has declined sharply thanks to a rebound in tourism, on which almost 13% of Spanish jobs, despite the fact that it remains at a high level.

In its latest forecasts, the government projects an unemployment rate of 11.2% of the active population at the end of 2024, and then reaching 10.2% at the end of 2025, thanks to a projected economic growth of 2.7 % this year, and 2.4% next year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) however predicts unemployment of 11.2% by the end of 2025, one point higher than the government.