PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on Tuesday on a hesitant note before the publication of key economic indicators that urge investors to be cautious. In early trade, the Dow Jones index was stable at 34,564.47 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 was treading water at 4,434.36 points. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.10% or 15.76 points to 13,691.997. Job Openings for July and Consumer Confidence for August are expected for 14:00 GMT, these two indicators to gauge the resistance of the US economy to rate hikes. Job openings will shed light on the dynamism of the labor market, which is holding up despite the tightening of financial conditions and is one of the factors of inflation.
Consumer sentiment, the main driver of the US economy, will also give indications on the trajectory of activity in the second half of the year. The consensus is for a decline in job vacancies in July, and a slight deterioration in sentiment in August. An upside surprise could rekindle fears that the Federal Reserve will raise rates again in September. On the values side, Best Buy gained more than 2.1%, the electronics distributor having reported a lower than expected drop in its like-for-like sales in the second quarter. 3M is up 1.1%, extending yesterday’s gains after agreeing to pay $6.01 billion to settle lawsuits against its earplugs, an amount JPMorgan believes is much lower than expected.
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(Written by Corentin Chapron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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