PARIS, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Thursday, heading for a fifth straight session in the red on continued interest rate fears as manufacturing activity slowed. Both Europe and Asia contracted last month, reinforcing signs of an economic slowdown.
In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index lost 160.53 points, or 0.51%, 31,349.9 points and the Standard & Poor’s 500, wider, fell by 0.70% 3,927.12 points.
The Nasdaq Composite cde 1.11%, or 131.39 points, 11,684.80.
Manufacturing activity in the eurozone contracted further in August to 49.6 and in the UK it fell to 47.3, according to the final results of S&P Global’s surveys of purchasing managers.
In China, manufacturing activity fell for the first time in three months, 49.5, on weaker demand as the country persists with its “zero COVID” policy so the city of Chengdu will confine 21.2 million inhabitants.
These economic indicators are published as the shock caused by the remarks last Friday by Jerome Powell, the chairman of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), on an increase in interest rates for “a while”, is far from over. fall.
The markets are still banking, with a probability of 73.1%, on an increase this month in the Fed’s rates by 75 basis points after a rise in the cost of credit of 225 points in total since March.
The US ISM manufacturing index for August will be released at 2:00 p.m. GMT and the Labor Department’s jobs report is due on Friday, two things investors will watch for a possible change in outlook. the Fed’s strategy.
Meanwhile, jobless claims fell unexpectedly in the United States last week, to 232,000 from 237,000 (revised) the previous week.
In values, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell by 5.54% and 3.35% respectively, Washington having asked the two groups to suspend the sale of some of their chips dedicated to artificial intelligence in China. In their wake, Seagate Technology, Micron, Applied Materials and Intel lost 1.1% to 3.7%, while Qualcomm fell 2.83%.
Ford drops 1.93% after announcing the recall of 198,000 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles in the United States.
Campbell Soup fell 3.17%, penalized by its adjusted earnings forecast for 2023 below analysts’ expectations.
* For values follow, click on (Rdig by Claude Chendjou, said by Sophie Louet)