Wall Street opens with little change after Powell’s speech


Posted Jan 10, 2023, 3:57 PM

PARIS, Jan 10 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened with little change on Tuesday after U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at an independence conference in Sweden central banks.

About fifteen minutes after the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index lost 7.32 points, or 0.02%, to 33,524.97 points and the wider Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.06% to 3,889, 68 dots.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.04%, or 4.432 points, to 10,631.217.

Speaking at the Bank of Sweden’s annual symposium, Jerome Powell did not really comment on interest rates, saying only that restoring price stability when inflation is high may require unpopular measures in the short term.

The boss of the American Central Bank especially insisted on the need for the institution to stay away from the climate objectives of political leaders at the risk of raising doubts about its independence.

Indices on Wall Street, which had been expected to see a steeper loss in grape futures on fears of a recession and a prolonged rise in interest rates, opened almost flat as investors now turned to the consumer price figures Thursday in the United States.

In terms of economic statistics, the World Bank announced on Tuesday that it had lowered its growth forecasts for 2023, to levels close to recession for many countries. The international organization is thus counting on global growth of 1.7% for this year, which would mark the weakest increase in nearly 30 years, excluding the recessions of 2009 and 2020.

In values, Microsoft advances by 0.7%, the group planning to invest 10 billion dollars (about 9.3 billion euros) in OpenAI, the owner of the chatbot ChatGPT, according to the media Semafor.

Broadcom fell 2.9%, the Bloomberg agency having reported that Apple plans to replace the group’s Wifi and Bluetooth chips in 2025 with its own products.

In dramatic declines, Virgin Orbit plummets 20% after a satellite launch into space from the UK failed due to an anomaly on its Cosmic Girl rocket. Boeing, whose modified 747 carried the rocket, lost 1.77%.



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