PARIS, March 23 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Wednesday, weighed down by the ebb in large-cap technology stocks as investors try to assess the consequences of an acceleration of monetary tightening in the United States and the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 215.94 points, or 0.62%, to 34,591.52 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.65% to 4,481.85 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.97%, or 136.79 points, to 13,972.02.
Jerome Powell, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said on Monday that the central bank needed to act “quickly” to rein in too-high inflation after the institution raised rates by a quarter point last week.
Traders are now banking on a range of “fed funds” rates between 2.25% and 2.5% by the end of the year, against a rate of 1.9% in the previous estimate, announced the last week, a sustained pace that could have an impact on economic growth.
“The risk of a policy error increases if the Fed tightens policy too abruptly and ends up pushing the economy into recession,” said Andrea Cicione, chief strategy officer at TS Lombard.
Investors also have in mind the uncertainties linked to the conflict in Ukraine when US President Joe Biden is expected this Wednesday in Brussels where he will take part in the NATO and G7 summits on Thursday, with the key to new sanctions. against Moscow.
In values, digital giants like Tesla, Microsoft, Apple, Meta Platforms or Alphabet fell from 0.8% to 1.6% the day after the sharp rise in the sector. The index of “techs” drops 1.3%. Adobe yields 7.5% after the announcement of earnings forecasts and turnover for the current quarter below expectations. Several analysts have also lowered their target price on the title.
On the upside, Occidental Petroleum gained 5.2%, in the wake of the rebound in crude oil prices, which benefited from fears of a drop in supply. Brent took 4.06% to 120.28 dollars and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 4.09% to 113.74 dollars.
The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds, which had benefited from rate hike expectations on Tuesday, lost steam and lost 2.5 points to 2.351%, after reaching a peak of almost three years at 2 in the morning. .4170%.