(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange should begin on an uncertain note Thursday morning, as investors continue to digest announcements from the Federal Reserve as well as the latest inflation figures.
Half an hour before the opening, the ‘futures’ contract on the Dow Jones fell by 0.2%, but that on the Nasdaq advanced by 0.2%, announcing a contrasting opening.
The Fed’s monetary policy statement and the press conference given last night by Jerome Powell, its president, have somewhat dashed hopes of seeing a cycle of monetary easing soon begin.
The new projections from those responsible for the institution, the famous ‘dot plots’, only show one rate cut in 2024, compared to three anticipated so far.
‘The Fed is trying to find a delicate balance between the risk of reducing its rates too early and that of lowering them too late,’ explains Pictet Wealth Management.
The prospect of rates remaining at their current levels could be considered unfavorable for stocks, but the Nasdaq still reached new all-time highs at the close last night.
According to the CME’s FedWatch barometer, the market still estimates the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut in September at more than 62%.
Now that the monetary meeting has passed, economic indicators are regaining their rights and seem rather popular with investors.
Producer prices actually showed an unexpected drop in May (-0.2%) due to the decline in energy prices, which argues in favor of monetary easing.
These figures come on top of consumer prices (CPI) which had already come out below expectations yesterday.
On the employment side, the Department of Labor recorded 242,000 new registrations for unemployment benefits last week, a figure up by 13,000, which confirms the market’s slowing trend.
Following these statistics, the yield on 10-year US government bonds continues to ease and falls towards 4.26%, which corresponds to a low since the end of March.
The oil market remains on a downward trend following figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) which showed an increase in crude stocks in the United States.
American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) is currently down 0.5% to $78.1.
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