Jerome Powell probably saved Wall Street yesterday from a second round of debacle for technology stocks, by pushing back, with a few well-considered words, the horizon on which investors feared that inflation would soar. I would like to remind you of the scenario that the financial community is scared about: economic recovery / acceleration of inflation / reduction of support programs / increase in interest rates / reduction of liquidity / end of the party for equities. So Powell explained yesterday to the Senate Banking Committee that the risk zone of a sustained inflation rate above 2%, which would trigger a reaction from the Fed, is not for the immediate future. He even defused a potential bomb for the coming weeks, pointing out that base effects will boost prices in March and April, but that these effects "will be temporary and will not signal anything more important". As for the printing press, it will continue to run as long as necessary. And the Federal Reserve Chairman even managed to send a message of confidence in the economic outlook.

A master class in communication that turned the tide yesterday on Wall Street. Before that, investors had continued to sell technology stocks massively, causing the Nasdaq 100 to fall by more than 3%. It closed at -0.22%. We didn't imagine Powell would sink a rod and announce a rate hike in July, but he could have missed his speech. This was not the case.

We must not lose sight of the fact that the central scenario remains that of a vigorous economic recovery, if not a "V" shaped one, and that the pressure exerted on technology stocks is one of the counterparts of the return to favor of cyclical stocks. It is also the product of the chronic overdose of investors for richly valued growth stocks. But don't think that the baby has already been thrown out with the bathwater: the S&P500's technology compartment is still +4.8% since January 1.  But the fact is that it is much less than the two champion sectors of 2021 in the United States, energy (oil stocks, +30%) and financials (banks in the lead, +18%). And that dissensions rare enough to be noticed appear: Apple and Facebook lost about 5% in 2021, while Microsoft progressed by 8% and Alphabet posted +19%. Amazon.com is in balance.

In Europe, the French business confidence index is published today. In the United States, the figures for old property and weekly oil inventories are on the agenda.