(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street opened lower on Wednesday, investors still showing concern about the rise in bond yields, which is fueling the profit-taking movement at work since the beginning of the month.
Just over an hour after opening, the Dow Jones dropped 0.5% to 32,722 points, while the Nas
daq Composite is trying to return to equilibrium, around 11,468.5 points.
The evolution of rates remains, more than ever, the locomotive of the markets with investors who keep their eyes riveted on the curve of the bond markets.
On the Treasuries compartment, the deterioration continues with long rates flirting with their worst levels since the beginning of November.
The ten-year yield hit 3.9830% in the early morning before falling back to 3.9450%.
The bond market reflects fears surrounding the persistence of inflationary pressures, which lead investors to anticipate further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in the coming months.
However, the macroeconomic context is not particularly favorable, since consumer confidence deteriorated again in February, when it was supposed to rebound.
The confidence index calculated by the Conference Board thus fell to 102.9 against 106 last month, while economists expected it on average around 108.
The news didn’t have much effect on the dollar, which continues to retreat against the euro, near 1.0630, while gold takes advantage of its safe haven status by signing higher 0.5% to $1832.9 an ounce.
On the values front, Target gains 1.6% after beating market expectations for the first time in a year.
In the current state of affairs, the Dow Jones shows a fall of around 4% for the whole month of February, while the Nasdaq shows a much more limited monthly decline of around 1.1%.
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