NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Wednesday, still plagued by runaway inflation and the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate hike, which pushed the yield on U.S. Treasuries above the psychological threshold of 3%.
The Dow Jones index fell 0.81%, or 269.24 points, to 32,910.9 points.
The broader S&P-500 lost 44.91 points, or 1.08%, to 4,115.77 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part by 88.96 points (-0.73%) to 12,086.27 points.
The surge in oil prices – the barrel of Brent exceeded 123 dollars on Wednesday for the first time in 13 weeks – is fueling investors’ concerns about inflation which had not been so high for 40 years.
For lack of respite, the markets expect a rate hike of half a point at the June 14-15 Fed meeting. An increase of the same magnitude is expected in July and the prospect of a break in September is considered weak.
As investors fear that the acceleration in the cost of credit will push the economy into recession, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday raised its estimate of inflation in member countries to 8.5% this year and lowered that of world GDP growth to 3% this year.
This situation continues to push up the yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds, which rose more than four basis points and crossed the symbolic threshold of 3%.
On Wall Street, the technology sector was particularly shaken, in the wake of Intel (-5.3%) after a note from Citi Research warning that the semiconductor manufacturer could issue a profit warning for the second quarter.
(Report by Caroline Valetkevitch, French version Tangi Salaün)
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