by Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Thursday on profit-taking, particularly technology stocks after three consecutive sessions of gains, as several Fed officials spoke out on the need to curb the rise in inflation.
The Dow Jones index fell -0.49%, or 176.7 points, to 36,113.62 points.
The broader S&P-500 fell 67.32 points, or -1.42%, to 4,659.03 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part by 381.58 points (-2.51%) to 14,806.81 points.
Among the eleven major sector indices of the S&P, that of technology showed the sharpest drop at the end of the session, ahead of that of health and that of consumer discretionary.
Before the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Lael Brainard on Thursday expressed her confidence in the ability of the US central bank to curb the rise in inflation, which is currently more than double the rate of inflation. objective of the institution.
“When Brainard says ‘we have to do something,’ they’re definitely going to do something,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at brokerage Commonwealth Financial Network, noting that the governor is one of the “doves” of the US central bank.
“There doesn’t seem to be much debate within the Fed yet about where to go or how fast to get there,” he added.
Tech stocks, sensitive to the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate hike, have also suffered from the Nasdaq’s three consecutive bullish sessions since the start of the week.
“We’ve had a pretty nice rebound in the Nasdaq over the past few days, so there may be some lingering nervousness around Fed rates and profit taking, especially ahead of earnings,” said Sameer Samana, strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in Saint Louis.
Quarterly season kicks off as early as Friday with banks JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, with the big tech companies publishing the following week.
At specific values, Delta Air Lines took 2.1% after the publication of a profit and a turnover above expectations for the fourth quarter.
(French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse)