PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange fell slightly on Wednesday, as investors favored caution pending the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 163.94 points, or 0.48%, to 33,922.1 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.22% to 4,067.45 points.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2%, or 23.19 points, to 11,561.362.
Investors await the Fed’s decisions at 7:00 p.m. GMT after two days of meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). They are largely counting on an increase in the target rate of the “fed funds” by only a quarter of a point, a more modest pace than at previous meetings, given the slowdown in inflation and employment.
Considered as an indicator of the long-awaited official report on non-agricultural employment, the ADP survey showed that the private sector created far fewer jobs than expected in January, 106,000.
“We have a steep drop in hiring, which implies that the Fed is succeeding in what it set out to do: to create higher unemployment and reduce demand, which will have the effect of lowering inflation. “, said Thomas Hayes, president of the investment company Great Hill Capital, who however expects the Fed to maintain a “very hawkish” speech.
On the government bond market, the yield on ten-year Treasuries stands at 3.49%, down five basis points.
The banks, penalized by the prospect of a small rise in rates as well as the fall in bond yields, are moving into the red like Citi (-1.34%), Goldman Sachs (-1.07%) or JPMorgan Chase (-0.70%).
Advanced Micro Devices gained 6.07% after saying it expected its business to improve in the second half, bolstering hopes it is gaining ground on rival Intel (-0.34%).
Video game publisher Electronic Arts fell 11.77% after lowering its annual bookings forecast following the postponement of the release of a game in the Star Wars franchise. Snap fell 13.37%, the social network group predicting a 10% drop in turnover this quarter. Meta, owner of Facebook, is due to release its quarterly results after the close.
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(Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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