(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened mixed on Wednesday, with investors awaiting the conclusion of the meeting of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which is expected to keep interest rates unchanged and give indications on the trajectory of its monetary policy.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 75.04 points, or 0.19%, to 39,035.72 points, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.01% to 5,179.09 points.
The Nasdaq Composite takes 0.18%, or 28.31 points, to 16,195.10.
The Fed’s monetary policy committee will make its decision at 6:00 p.m. GMT after two days of meetings and this will be followed half an hour later by a press conference by Fed President Jerome Powell. While there is little doubt about the status quo on rates in the immediate future, investors will especially be on the lookout for economic projections and clues on the evolution of borrowing costs.
Optimism around artificial intelligence lifted U.S. markets to record highs earlier this month, but indexes are down slightly after the latest data showed inflation remains robust, which could lead the Fed to push back the planned timetable for its first rate cut.
Markets are counting on a 64% probability of a rate cut in June, compared to a probability of 71% at the start of last week, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch barometer.
“The two things markets are going to focus on are the change in forecasts and the change in tone,” said Michael Metcalfe, strategist at State Street Global Markets.
“Given the mistakes the Fed has made in the past in using the term transitional, it is understandable that they do not want to comment on a single data release, but we have January and February with slightly worrying signs regarding the trend of inflation, so we’ll focus on what he (Powell) mentions,” he added.
In terms of values, Boeing lost 0.7%, the group having declared that it expected to spend more cash in the first quarter and limit the production of 737 aircraft below 38 per month.
Stock exchange operator Nasdaq fell 4.1% after saying Borse Dubai would sell shares worth $1.6 billion, reducing its stake from 15.5% to 10.8%.
On the upside, Intel rose 1.5% after the US government announced that it would grant the group nearly $20 billion in the form of grants and loans. General Mills takes 4.6% and PDD holdings 10.3%, the latest financial results of the two groups having exceeded market expectations.
(Written by Augustin Turpin, edited by Claude Chendjou)
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