The financial sector is stunned by various headwinds, and investors have lost their appetite for risky assets. On Wall Street, investors breathed a sigh of relief last Thursday, when the technology sector managed a powerful rebound. But the respite was short-lived, with a memorable fall on Friday: -4.5% for the Nasdaq 100 at the close, and a staggering -13.4% for the whole of April. A decline of such magnitude (-15.8%) has not been seen since October 2008, which was the height of the financial crisis with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the rescue of Merrill Lynch. The economic context is of course very different, but this illustrates how markets correct their excesses: with brutality.

There had been a few warning shots in recent years, but until now, American tech stars had always come to the rescue of their sectoral peers. Most often by publishing unprecedented profits that made investors' appetite for risk rise immediately. But not this time: Netflix has dropped, Google has fallen in line. Even the king Apple is caught up in shortages. Not to mention Amazon, whose stock collapsed 14% on Friday, after results that show that inflation doesn't just happen to others. To hijack an old stock market saying, when "Tech" coughs, Wall Street catches a cold.

One person who is having a good laugh right now is Warren Buffett. The Nebraska billionaire took advantage of his investment company Berkshire Hathaway's annual rave to talk on stage, as much as possible when you're 92 years old, and to throw a few poisoned arrows. Against the Wall Street clique in particular: "they make a lot more money when people are gambling than when they are investing.” The ease with which his group built a 14% position in Occidental Petroleum recently makes him think that "most of the big companies in the United States have become poker chips. Against Bitcoin too, which "produces nothing." Buffett also added that "inflation cheats almost everyone", after having seen the damage caused by price increases on the companies he owns in portfolio. Berkshire Hathaway has been investing heavily in recent months, after a long period of cautiousness. Extremely conservative choices, in oil companies and insurance in particular. Its most exotic bets of the moment are in HP Inc and Activision Blizzard.

U.S. stock indexes are starting May on a higher note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.4%, the S&P 500 rising by 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 1.1%.

Economic highlights of the day:

The April manufacturing PMI indices for the major economies will be released throughout the day, as well as the ISM manufacturing index in the US. This weekend, China reported an official manufacturing PMI at 47.4 points in April (an index below 50 is synonymous with economic contraction).

The dollar/euro pair remains unchanged at 0.9492. Gold is struggling to play its safe-haven role at USD 1,863. Oil is slightly down, with North Sea Brent at USD 104.59 per barrel and US light crude WTI at USD 101.57. The yield on 10-year US debt is climbing back up to 2.94%. Bitcoin is down to USD 38,884.

On markets:

* Berkshire Hathaway - The chairman of the group, Warren Buffett, took advantage of the annual general meeting on Saturday to announce several important investments, including a reinforcement of its holdings in Activision Blizzard.

* Apple - The European Commission announced Monday that it had informed the group that it believed, on a preliminary basis, that it was abusing its dominant position in the markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices by providing access to NFC technology for contactless payments. The company said that sending this "statement of objections" does not prejudge the outcome of its investigation.

* Pfizer announced Friday that a large-scale clinical trial of Paxlovid, its COVID-19 treatment, concluded that it was not effective in preventing transmission of the coronavirus between an infected person and other members of their household. The stock lost 3.2% in pre-market trading.

* Spirit Airlines rejected Monday's $33-per-share bid for Jetblue Airways, saying the deal was unlikely to be approved by antitrust regulators. In pre-market trading, Spirit lost more than 9% and JetBlue gained 2%.

* Qualcomm - Volkswagen has signed a multi-year agreement with the semiconductor maker to develop automated driving technology, German daily Handelsblatt reported Monday.

* Goldman Sachs - The bank announced Monday that it had reduced its exposure to the Russian credit market to $260 million in March from $650 million at the end of 2021.

* MGM Resorts International announced Monday a bid for Swedish online gaming group LeoVegas for about $607 million, recommended by its target's board.

Analyst recommendations:

• Automatic Data Processing: Citigroup adjusts price target to $230 from $212, maintains neutral rating.
• Charter Communications: KeyBanc adjusts price target to $563 from $792, reiterates overweight rating.
• Chevron: Raymond James adjusts chevron's price target to $181 from $191, keeps outperform rating.
• Comerica: Piper Sandler upgrades to overweight from neutral. PT up 15% to $94.
• Epam Systems: Piper Sandler upgrades to overweight from neutral. PT up 31% to $348.
• Floor & Decor Holdings: Telsey Advisory adjusts price target to $105 from $135, keeps outperform rating
• Genmab: Cowen initiated coverage with a recommendation of market perform. PT up 8% to $38.
• KeyCorp: Piper Sandler downgrades to underweight from neutral. PT up 6.2% to $20.50.
• Match Group: KeyBanc adjusts price target to $140 from $155, reiterates overweight rating
• ResMed: Wilsons cut its recommendation to market-weight from overweight. PT up 53% to $306.86.
• Shopify: KeyBanc adjusts shopify's price target to $650 from $1,000, reiterates overweight rating
• SJW: J.P. Morgan upgrades to overweight from neutral. PT up 14% to $67.
• Spotify: DA Davidson adjusts price target to $190 from $269, reiterates buy/add rating
• Weyerhaeuser: BMO Capital Markets downgrades to market perform from outperform. PT up 1.9% to $42.