PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on a hesitant note on Friday as it awaits a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in Jackson Hole.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 21.76 points, or 0.07%, to 33,313.54 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.09% to 4,195.25 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.22%, or 27.739 points, to 12,611.526.
Wall Street futures pared their losses following the publication, an hour before the opening, of the monthly statistics of income and expenditure of American households.
These showed that the price index for personal expenditure (PCE) excluding energy and food rose by only 0.1% in July, against +0.6% in June and +0.3% expected. Over one year, this so-called “core PCE” index rose by 4.6% after rising by 4.8% the previous month.
This slight improvement in inflationary pressures leads Atlanta Federal Reserve Chairman Raphael Bostic to tip in favor of a 50 basis point rate hike next month, he said during a briefing. an interview with CNBC.
But the markets are above all awaiting the intervention at 2:00 p.m. GMT from Jerome Powell, the President of the Fed, within the framework of the Jackson Hole symposium. Observers are hoping to pick up signals on the direction of the central bank’s monetary policy and the magnitude of future rate hikes.
“He should focus on short-term issues and strive to leave no doubt about the Fed’s determination to fight inflation,” Commerzbank analyst Esther Reichelt said in a note.
On the stock market, the fashion group Gap climbed 3.00% after the publication of an unexpected quarterly profit, while the IT group Dell Technologies lost 7.72% following disappointing forecasts.
Alibaba and JD.com took 3.17% and 2.20% respectively thanks to an agreement between Chinese and American regulators concerning the audit of Chinese companies listed on Wall Street.
(Written by Laetitia Volga, edited by Sophie Louet)