(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street lost ground on Wednesday the day after statements by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, which paved the way for possible additional rate hikes this year.
One hour after opening, the Dow Jones fell more than 0.2% to 34,070.8 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1% to 11,991.5 points.
US equity markets had taken the upward path yesterday following remarks, at first deemed unsurprising, made by Jerome Powell during an economic conference organized in Washington.
The head of the Federal Reserve has however made it known that the tightening of monetary policy could once again be reinforced in the coming months, provided that the economic situation continues to improve.
‘Powell said continued strength in the labor market could mean that the hike in policy rates could end at levels well above what markets are currently pricing in,’ BofA economists said.
The gloom on Wall Street does not prevent certain companies, whose quarterly results have convinced, from distinguishing themselves.
Uber rose 1% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, with Ebitda in particular coming in well above expectations.
CVS Health gained more than 4% after announcing an adjusted EPS almost stable at 1.99 dollars in the fourth quarter, for revenues up 9.5% to more than 83.8 billion.
Microsoft (+1.2%) is up for the second session in a row, benefiting from several price target increases following its progress in artificial intelligence (AI).
On the economic front, wholesalers’ inventories barely increased in December (+0.1%), which suggests that the trend towards destocking is confirmed against a backdrop of persistent supply problems.
On the oil front, a barrel of American light crude rose 0.8% to 77.8 dollars after the latest data published by the American Energy Information Agency (EIA).
These statistics show that crude inventories stood at 455.1 million barrels at the end of the week of January 30, an increase of 2.4 million barrels compared to the previous week.
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