Published on : Modified :
New York (AFP) – The New York Stock Exchange moved in dispersed order on Wednesday, the last day of the month, awaiting a speech from the chairman of the Fed and digesting a series of mixed indicators.
The Dow Jones index yielded 0.64%, the technology-dominated Nasdaq advanced 0.22% and the S&P 500 lost 0.31%.
The day before, the Dow Jones had remained stable (+0.01% to 33,852.53 points), the Nasdaq had fallen by 0.59% to 10,983.78 points and the broader S&P 500 index by 0.16% to 3,957 .63 points.
“There is a lot of news today but what will matter most for the market will be the intervention of Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Fed, in a speech delivered at 6:30 p.m. GMT on the economic outlook, inflation and labor market,” noted Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
“Inquisitive minds want to know not only what Mr. Powell is thinking…but whether he’s going to take a tougher tone like he did at the last FOMC meeting or whether he’s going to show off. less hawkish” on the evolution of interest rates, added the analyst.
So far the Fed has raised rates by 75 basis points four times in a row to push them up between 3.75% and 4%, but markets now expect the Fed boss to signal that there will only be an increase of 50 basis points in December. The next monetary meeting is scheduled for December 13-14.
Investors will also be watching what Mr. Powell will say about the final level of rates while some, like James Bullard of the St. Louis Fed, have mentioned a terminal level of 4.9% which implies other turns of the screw monetary.
LBBW’s Karl Haeling says stocks have “a chance to trade higher” after Jerome Powell’s comments at the Brookings Institution “as long as it doesn’t create a surprise”.
“If he says what everyone is already thinking, then there will be a sigh of relief and that should lead to some upside trading,” he said.
In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasury bills were stable at 3.74% while the dollar retreated a little against the euro.
The day was also dotted with a multitude of economic barometers.
As official U.S. jobs figures are awaited on Friday, private business hiring in November was much weaker than expected at 127,000, the steepest slowdown in nearly two years, according to the report. ADP/Stanford Lab monthly survey.
The economic slowdown caused by the American central bank, the Fed, to fight against high inflation, seems to be starting to take effect.
In addition, the Commerce Department revised up GDP growth in the third quarter to 2.9% at an annualized rate, thanks in particular to stronger consumer spending than previously estimated.
But these figures are already a look in the rear view mirror because they reflect the course of the economy from July to September.
Less brilliant, the activity index for the Chicago region by the professional organization ISM shows a sharp decline to 37.2 points in November, a new contraction for this manufacturing region for the third month in a row.
Finally, in a new sign of the cooling of the real estate market, the promises of home sales fell in October by 4.6% and 37% for a year.
On the side, the Biogen laboratory soared by more than 6% to 308 dollars, after the announcement of positive results in a study concerning a new drug against Alzheimer’s disease developed with the Japanese group Eisai.
The study shows a 27% reduction in cognitive decline in treated patients, although the drug can cause serious side effects.
The title of the DoorDash meal deliverer was sought after (+4.70% to 55.85 dollars) while the Californian platform announced the loss of 1,250 jobs, or nearly 15% of its workforce.
Online car seller Carvana’s stock continued to decline 4% to $7 after a Bank of America analyst worried about the platform’s cash position.
© 2022 AFP