NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Wednesday as the Dow Jones and S&P-500 saw a four-session green streak come to an end amid recent signs of an advance in talks. between Russia and Ukraine has eased, on the sidelines of fears that the policy of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will harm economic growth.
The Dow Jones index fell 0.19%, or 65.38 points, to 35,228.81 points.
The broader S&P-500 lost 29.15 points, or 0.63%, to 4,602.45 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell by its side from 177.36 points (1.21%) to 14,442.28 points.
While Moscow promised during talks held Tuesday in Turkey that it would significantly reduce its operations in northern Ukraine, the Russian army’s bombardments against the capital Kyiv and Chernihiv continued on Wednesday.
Despite rebounding more than 5% this month after starting the year with two monthly declines, the S&P-500 is on course for its first quarterly decline since the start of 2020, a period during which the coronavirus epidemic was declared with virulence in the United States.
While recently making gains, equities remain highly volatile on news of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, with soaring inflation fueled by rising oil and metal prices since the start of the year. war, February 24.
“Ukraine is the story that drives the market,” commented Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, New Vernon, New Jersey, citing fluctuations in energy prices.
“Some kind of normalcy for the global economy would be a really positive sign for the market,” he added.
Soaring inflation is prompting speculation about more aggressive monetary policy from the Fed, which began raising interest rates this month and whose moves could hurt economic growth.
Unlike the day before, the energy sector was the best performing of the major S&P-500 sectors, rising 1.17%, and is now up almost 40% since the start of the year.
Data released today show that the job market remains strong in the private sector in the United States.
Ct values, Lululemon Athletica jumped 9.58% after announcing forecasts of annual turnover and profit above expectations.
(French version Jean Terzian)
by Chuck Mikolajczak