by Herbert Lash and Shreyashi Sanyal
(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Wednesday, ahead of a vote on U.S. debt in Congress and as data on the number of job openings raised concerns that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will not raises interest rates further in June.
The Dow Jones index fell -0.41%, or 134.51 points, to 32,908.27 points.
The broader S&P-500 lost 25.69 points, or -0.61%, to 4,179.83 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part by 82.14 points (-0.63%) to 12,935.29 points.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Wednesday evening on the bill to suspend the debt ceiling in the United States until January 1, 2025, a decisive step to avoid a default.
If the text is adopted in the House, it will be sent to the Senate where the debates could continue over the weekend, as the June 5 deadline approaches.
Most analysts, however, believe the law will pass, and US President Joe Biden has already said he expects the text to reach him by Monday.
“The bond market appreciates some fiscal discipline and the equity market appreciates that it doesn’t hurt growth,” said Brad Conger deputy chief investment officer at Hirtle Callaghan & Co.
“I don’t think we could have hoped for a better result.”
Data released today by the Labor Department showed the number of job openings rose in April, underscoring the resilience of the US labor market, raising fears that the Federal Reserve could be forced to further increase its interest rate in June.
Traders estimate nearly a 70% chance of a quarter-point rate hike in two weeks.
At values, Advance Auto Parts ended in the red after revising down its forecast for the year.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise also ended lower after posting second-quarter earnings that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Nvidia retreated after having briefly exceeded the threshold of 1,000 billion dollars in market capitalization on Tuesday.
Intel for its part rose after indicating that it was its second-quarter revenue would likely be at the upper end of the expected range.
(Reportage Herbert Lash, with the contribution of Shreyashi Sanyal and Shashwat Chauhan; French version Camille Raynaud)
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