PARIS, March 17 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Thursday as equity markets weighed on the latest news from Ukraine and fears over the suggested pace of interest rate hikes. by the US Federal Reserve (Fed).
About ten minutes after the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index lost 92.33 points, or 0.27%, to 33,970.77 points and the wider Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.23% to 4,347, 45 dots.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.36%, or 48.48 points, to 13,388.06.
The Russian military continued to shell cities across Ukraine on Thursday as its offensive enters its fourth week.
If behind the scenes, the talks between Ukraine and Russia continue, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, denied that the two camps have made significant progress for a draft peace agreement.
On the macroeconomic level, the Fed announced, as expected, a quarter-point rate hike on Wednesday evening, but hinted that this first hike could be followed by six others by the end of the year. a sustained pace which, in the eyes of some analysts, constitutes a risk for the American economy.
“Such an acceleration of the tightening increases the risk of a hard landing in the future and suggests an increased risk of recession over the next two years,” said Allison Boxer, US economist at Pimco.
The CBOE volatility index rose more than 1% after closing yesterday at its lowest level since February 18.
After two sessions of increases, the banks JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo fell from 1% to 2.8% the day after the announcements of the Federal Reserve.
The yield spread between two-year and ten-year US bonds also fell below 20 basis points, tending towards a flattening of the yield curve, which is unfavorable for banks.
The oil groups Chevron, ExxonMobil, Callon Petroleum, Devon Energy, Marathon Oil and Occidental Petroleum advanced by 1% to 8% while the price of a barrel of Brent rose by more than 7%.
On the indicator side, the growth of industrial production in the United States slowed in February to 0.5%, but it remained in line with expectations, while jobless claims last week fell to 214,000. ZON005606