PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Monday, extending Friday’s upturn stemming from the US jobs report, although uncertainty over the midterm elections, due on Tuesday, limited gains.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 122.84 points, or 0.38%, to 32,526.06 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.25% to 3,780.01 points.
The Nasdaq Composite took 0.1%, or 10.49 points, to 10,485.75.
The Democrats are preparing for a perilous midterm election on Tuesday in the United States, the possible loss of at least one of the two houses of Congress risking further weakening an already weakened Joe Biden while fully restoring in the saddle Donald Trump for the next presidential election.
Against a background of growing public dissatisfaction with rising prices, observers of American political life expect the Republicans to regain control of the House of Representatives, entirely renewed, or even of the Senate, renewed by a third.
Investors are also awaiting US inflation figures on Thursday. Consensus calls for a slowdown to 8.0% YoY in October from 8.2% in September, which could ease fears of Federal Reserve monetary tightening that dominated trading last week. Markets are pricing a 67% chance of a 50 basis point interest rate hike in December to 4.25%-4.50%.
The CBOE volatility index, which closed Friday at a low point since September 13, rose 3.54% to 25.42 points, a sign of some nervousness among investors.
In values, Apple fell 1.39%, the group having said it expected lower than expected deliveries for its iPhone 14 Pro due to health restrictions in China.
The Chinese authorities over the weekend reaffirmed their intention to continue with the “zero COVID-19” policy, despite market speculation that the rules would be relaxed.
The Chinese groups listed on Wall Street JD.COM, Alibaba and Baidu advance from 1.57% to 2.03%.
Meta Platforms takes 3.02% in reaction to a Wall Street Journal article according to which the parent company of Facebook plans to lay off thousands of people.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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