Wall Street closes mixed in a session marked by a technical failure and the GameStop boom

Wall Street closed this Monday on mixed ground with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, its main indicator, at 38,571 points (-0.30%) within a session that was marked by a technical failure that paralyzed the trading of 28 securities for an hour and a half. media, and by the dazzling rise of GameStop.

At the close of the session on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the S&P 500 gained 0.11%, to 5,283 points, and the technology Nasdaq advanced 0.56%, to 16,828 points.

The NYSE reported at 10:11 a.m. local time in New York (2:11 p.m. GMT) that it was halting trading in 28 securities, citing an alleged “technical failure,” after the class A shares of business conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, owned by Warren Buffett, fell 99.97% compared to the close of trading on Friday.

The impasse lasted for approximately an hour and a half, also affecting companies such as Barrick Gold and Nuscale Power, but it did not have a direct impact on the prices of the three main indices.

In addition, the assets of the video game company GameStop, known since the pandemic as ‘meme stocks’, rose 21% this Monday after American investor Keith Gill, nicknamed ‘Roaring Kitty’, published a screenshot yesterday on Reddit which showed a position in the company worth $116 million.

Before the opening of the trading floor, GameStop advanced by 80% and even officially began the session with an increase of 47%.

Elsewhere, manufacturing data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), the world’s largest supply management association, showed signs of slowing with an index of 48.7 in May, pushing down Treasury yields and of the dollar. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Investors now await May jobs data, due out on Friday, with expectations for a slowdown enough for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates soon, but not too steep to fear a recession.

Regarding the sectors, today the growth of technology (0.98%) and healthcare (0.74%) stood out; while those that fell the most were energy (-2.6%) and public services (-1.26%).

Among the 30 Dow Jones stocks, the largest gains fell on the side of Boeing (3.92%) and Merck (2.29%), and the largest losses were those of Chevron (-2.98%), Dow Inc (-2.71%) and Travelers Companies (-2.48%).

Texas oil closed with a notable drop of 3.6% to $74.22 a barrel; At the close of the stock market, 10-year treasury bonds fell to 4.39%; and gold rose to $2,370 an ounce.