PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange was in the green on Wednesday at the start of the session, but its progress was slowed down by the persistence of economic fears.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 69.17 points, or 0.21%, to 33,310.73 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.17% to 3,835.86 points.
The Nasdaq Composite took 0.09%, or 9.618 points, to 10,362.844.
“Concerns including Federal Reserve policy, inflation, economic growth and the prospect of a recession in 2023 dominate investors’ thoughts for the final trading days of the year,” said Stephen Innes, at SPI Asset Management.
“Investors hoping for a year-end ‘rally’ will likely be disappointed,” he added.
The S&P 500 is down almost 20% since the start of the year and is expected to register its biggest annual loss since the 2008 financial crisis. The rout was more severe for the Nasdaq Composite which lost almost 34% for the moment.
Both indexes ended the session in the red on Tuesday, as growth stocks suffered from fears over the duration of monetary tightening by the Fed, which is still trying to control inflation.
(Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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