(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange is heading down again on Thursday, weighed down by inflation figures at their highest in 40 years, which are reigniting concerns about the Fed’s next rate hikes.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones fell 0.9% to 32,998.6 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.8% to 13,008.9 points.
Investors learned this morning that the rise in consumer prices had accelerated further in February in the United States, in particular due to a marked increase in the price of gasoline and fuel oil.
Even excluding energy and food, inflation came in at 6.4% year on year last month, the highest level since 1982.
These inflationary pressures, which arise against a backdrop of soaring commodity prices, obviously raise fears of an acceleration in the pace of rate hikes by the Fed, whose monetary policy committee is due to meet next week.
Currency concerns on top of soaring commodities and complications in the Ukraine exit talks were already weighing on market sentiment.
‘The latest reports point to a breakdown in talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys on several key issues, such as a possible 24-hour ceasefire and the establishment of humanitarian corridors’ , deplore the Wells Fargo teams.
As a result, eight of the 11 S&P sector indices are moving into the red this morning, the biggest drop being for technology (-2.1%).
The index of energy stocks still signs the best performance of the day, while oil prices are starting to rise again after their decline the day before.
The barrel of American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) is currently recovering 1.2% to 110.1 dollars.
The CBOE volatility index, nicknamed the ‘fear index’, stabilized at around 32.6 points, up barely 0.5%.
As for values, Amazon climbed by more than 5% after announcing a division by 20 of the nominal value of its share and the launch of a share buyback program for up to 10 billion dollars.
Cisco gives him 2.6% following a deterioration of Wells Fargo analysts, who are concerned about the too insistent attention that the group pays to its growth, to the detriment of its profitability.
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