PARIS, March 21 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on an uncertain note on Monday as equity markets struggled to find a clear direction amid the situation in Ukraine where fighting continues as Westerners prepare a new set of sanctions against Moscow, uncertainties that are driving up oil prices.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 12.02 points, or 0.03%, to 34,742.91 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500, wider, on the other hand, rose by 0.15% to 4,470.26 points.
The Nasdaq Composite, for its part, lost 0.09%, or 12.48 points, to 13,881.35.
The Kremlin indicated on Monday that there were no major advances in the talks between Moscow and Kyiv and, at the same time, the Russian army for the first time bombarded the suburbs of Odessa, in the south-west of Ukraine. .
European Union foreign ministers will discuss additional sanctions against Moscow on Monday, including against its oil sector, while US President Joe Biden is due to meet at 15:00 GMT with the European leaders before his planned visit to Poland on Friday to discuss the international response to this crisis.
In the meantime, the prices of oil and several industrial metals are on the rise again, Brent gaining 4% to 112.28 dollars a barrel and American light crude 3.86% to 108.74 dollars a barrel. Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum took the opportunity to take 1.3%, 1.5% and 3.7% respectively.
On the downside, Boeing fell 5.1% after a plane crash involving a China Eastern Airlines 737 with 132 passengers on board in southern China. The Chinese airline immediately announced a suspension of all its Boeing 737-800s.
Mergers and acquisitions are also driving the trend in the image of Nielsen Holdings, which plunged 14.2% after the rejection of an offer of 9.1 billion dollars (8.2 billion euros) from the part of a private equity consortium.
The software publisher Anaplan, on the other hand, jumped 28% after the announcement of its takeover by the investment fund Thoma Bravo for 9.65 billion dollars (8.7 billion euros), while Alleghany Corporation, a insurance specialist, takes 25%, in reaction to the announcement of its acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway (+0.8%), the company of Warren Buffett.
* For the values to follow, click on (Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)