Wall Street opens lower with China


PARIS, May 16 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened slightly lower on Monday, as the deterioration in Chinese economic indicators encouraged investors to be cautious.

In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 25.82 points, or 0.08%, to 32,170.84 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.20% to 4,016.02 points.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.44%, or 52.262 points, to 11,752.739.

Chinese markets ended in the red and European stock markets are moving in mixed order after the announcement in the morning in China of a heavier than expected fall in retail sales and an unexpected drop in industrial production in April in due to the restrictive measures taken in the country against COVID-19.

Fears about the Chinese economy add to those about the pace of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tightening in the face of inflation, the war in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions.

Goldman Sachs economists lowered their forecast for US growth to 2.4% this year from 2.6% previously citing tightening financial conditions.

Since the beginning of the year, the S&P-500 and the Nasdaq have fallen by around 16% and 25.4% respectively, with fears over the path of Fed rates hitting growth stocks harder.

Microsoft, Apple, Meta Platforms and Nvidia lost 1.14% to 1.70%.

Jetblue fell 1.54% after launching a hostile takeover bid for Spirit Airlines, up 7.84%.

On the American indicator side, economic activity in the northeastern United States contracted in May, its “Philly Fed” index having fallen to -11.6 after 24.60 in April, while economists waited in mean a decline limited to 17.0.




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