(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange started the month of March on a generally negative note, following the publication of indicators showing a contraction in the manufacturing sector in the United States, but also an accelerating trend prices.
Thus at the close on Wednesday, the Dow Jones ended just above its balance at 32,662 points, but the S&P500 fell about 0.5% to 3,951 points and the Nasdaq Composite lost nearly 0.7%. at 11379 points.
Highly anticipated in the context of current economic uncertainty, the ISM manufacturing index came out at 47.7 in February, against 47.4 in January, while economists expected it to rise a little stronger.
Published a little earlier, the S&P Global PMI index measuring the activity of the manufacturing industry finally came out at 47.3, against 47.8 in the ‘flash’ estimate and after 46.9 the previous month.
Above all, the rebound in the prices paid component of the ISM index suggested that inflationary pressures were still building, which could encourage further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Moreover, the president of the Atlanta Fed, Raphael Bostic, then that of the Minneapolis Fed, Neel Kashkari, campaigned in the morning for a rise in the cost of money in the face of inflation figures and of employment deemed to be of concern.
On the values side, the operators penalized the quarterly publications of the DIY store chain Lowe’s (-5.6%) and the computer equipment supplier HP Inc (- 2.1%), but welcomed that of the distributor at Dollar Tree discounted prices (+1.9%).
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