PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Thursday, hurt by the prospect of further monetary tightening by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) in the light of the minutes of its last meeting and the new survey of the ADP firm on employment in the United States.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 315.56 points, or 0.92%, to 33,973.08 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 1.01% to 4,401.86 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.24%, or 171.01 points, to 13,620.63.
The “minutes” of the Fed’s June 13-14 monetary policy meeting showed that a large majority of US central bank officials expected further monetary tightening despite June’s pause on rates of interest.
At the same time, pending the official report on employment in the United States, the monthly survey by ADP, published on Thursday, shows that the labor market remains dynamic despite the continuous rise in interest rates. ADP recorded 497,000 job creations in June, the highest level since February 2022, which could force the Fed to maintain its high rates longer than expected.
Dallas Fed Chair Lorie Logan, a voting member of the FOMC, said Thursday “it would have been entirely appropriate” to raise rates at the June meeting where a status quo was finally decided.
On the bond market, the yield on ten-year Treasury bills advanced by more than eight basis points, to 4.0291% and that of two years by 9.1 points, to 5.0459%.
This naturally weighs on growth stocks like Alphabet and Tesla, which fell 2.06% and 1.55% respectively.
Chip specialists Qualcomm (-1.17%) and Intel (-2.06%) are affected by China’s decision to impose restrictions on exports of metals used in the manufacture of semiconductors in a context tensions between Beijing and Washington as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a four-day visit.
Resistant to the downtrend Meta Platforms is stable the day after the launch of Threads, an application intended to compete with Twitter and on which 10 million people have already registered according to the group.
In the other sectors, Exxon Mobil (-1.36%) suffered from expectations for its quarterly operating profit, which should show a sharp drop when it is due to be published on July 28.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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