by Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended slightly lower on Wednesday as investors digested unexpected U.S. inflation data that stoked fears of a bigger-than-expected rise in interest rates. interest by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) later this month.
The Dow Jones index fell 0.67%, or 208.54 points, to 30,772.79 points.
The broader S&P-500 lost 17.02 points, or 0.45%, to 3,801.78 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part by 17.15 points (0.15%) to 11,247.58 points.
The main Wall Street indices plunged into the red after the publication of consumer prices in the United States, before erasing part of their losses, without however switching into the green.
Year-on-year growth in consumer prices accelerated in June to a peak not seen in over 40 years, driven in particular by a monthly rise of 11.2%, according to the US Department of Labor report. fuel prices.
However, the basic price index (“core CPI”), which excludes energy and food products, fell to 5.9% year on year.
“The data is worse than expected, but the fact that the ‘core CPI’ is showing some deceleration over one year gives a small indication that this is the final straw for the inflation surge,” commented Peter. Cardillo, chief economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
While an interest rate hike of 75 basis points had previously been expected, the consumer price report reinforces the prospect that the Fed will be even more aggressive during its monetary policy meeting.
The question about the impact of the US central bank’s measures now seems to no longer be whether they will plunge the economy into recession, but the magnitude of the coming trough.
“We still don’t know what’s going to happen, but the most likely is that we’re going to have a recession because the Fed is going to have to act aggressively,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, told Reuters. Charlotte in North Carolina.
“Unfortunately, we were expecting good news and there was none,” he added, saying he did not believe in the hypothesis of a soft landing for the economy.
Nine of the eleven major sectors of the S&P-500 ended down, led by industry and communication services.
The quarterly earnings season will accelerate on Thursday with big US banks, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, then Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Friday.
On the value side, Delta Air Lines fell 4.5% after publishing results below expectations, despite a “significant” forecast of annual profit thanks to the rebound in demand.
Twitter jumped 7.90% following Hindenburg Research’s announcement of a major equity stake in the social network.
(French version Jean Terzian)
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