(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange turned upwards on Wednesday morning following the publication of an ISM services index lower than expected, supporting the scenario of future rate cuts.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones reversed course and gained 0.2% to 39,253.8 points, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6% to 16,337.3 points.
Wall Street had opened lower previously, extending its consolidation movement from the day before due to the rebound in oil prices and its worrying implications regarding a possible revival of inflation.
The more marked slowdown than expected in the growth of activity in the services sector, announced at the start of the session, nevertheless seems to open the way to further monetary easing.
The ISM services index in fact fell to 51.4 last month, compared to 52.6 in February, while economists expected it to rise slightly, or at worst unchanged.
Risk-taking, however, remains limited to a few minutes of the highly anticipated statements from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who will speak in a few moments.
Observers do not anticipate any spectacular announcement from the Fed boss at the Stanford University economic forum.
But the president of the central bank could nevertheless provide the markets with new indications on his assessment of the economic situation and on the institution’s plans in terms of rates.
In the meantime, an ounce of gold has just crossed the $2,300 mark, a new absolute record, a gain of 10% since crossing its previous record at $2,070.
Investors also remain attentive to the latest developments on the oil market, where American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) retraces its annual zenith from Tuesday towards 86 dollars.
Little movement on the bond side, even if the yield on ten-year Treasuries tends to the margin of three basis points beyond 4.39%, which nevertheless corresponds to the worst mark observed since the end november.
On the value side, Ford stands out (+2.6%) after having thwarted the downward trend in the American automobile market in the first quarter, with increasing sales boosted by the success of its electric models.
Intel, for its part, fell more than 7% after revealing that its ‘Foundry’ branch – its newly launched silicon wafer manufacturing business – had suffered an operational loss of almost seven billion dollars last year.
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