(News Bulletin 247) – The New York Stock Exchange continued its decline on Friday, with the decline in energy and technology stocks outweighing the rise in consumer-related stocks against a backdrop of growing inflationary fears.

At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones fell 0.1% to 33,665.1 points, the S&P 500 lost 0.4% to 4,073 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped nearly 1% to 11,742.8 points.

US equity markets are thus preparing to complete another week of decline. Over the week as a whole, the Dow has so far crumbled by 0.3%, the S&P lost 0.5% while the Nasdaq managed to nibble 0.5%.

Released this morning, the rather reassuring import price figures failed to dispel fears of persistent inflation that would prompt the Fed to act.

According to the Labor Department, import prices fell 0.2% in January, mainly driven by gasoline costs, after falling 0.1% in December 2022.

While this decline reflects some easing in price pressures, the statistics come after the publication this week of several indicators pointing to inflationary risks that raise fears of an acceleration in Fed rate hikes.

In a research note, Bank of America economists say they fear the scenario of ‘tenacious’ inflation likely to persist over the next few years.

“The high level of inflation expectations over a 12-month horizon suggests that it could prove difficult to quickly bring core inflation back to its target,” said the investment bank.

The Wall Street firm also indicates that it is worried about the prospect of a “hard landing” for the economy in the second half of the year under the effect of the monetary tightening orchestrated by the central banks.

The publication, at the start of the session, of an index of leading indicators from the Conference Board down 0.3% in January, that is to say exactly at the level expected by the consensus, did not have any effect. impact on the trend.

Seven of the S&P sector indices are in the red, with the sharpest decline going to energy stocks (-2.4%) against a backdrop of a drop in the barrel of American light crude oil (-3% to 76.2 dollars ).

On the stock side, Deere climbed more than 6% after announcing better-than-expected quarterly results, driven by strong demand for its agricultural machinery, and revising its forecast for 2023 upwards.

On the Treasuries market, the yield on 10-year paper is stabilizing around 3.84% after crossing the 3.90% threshold in the early morning, unheard of since last November.

However, buyers could regain control of the stock markets by the end of the session, mainly for technical reasons in this session of the ‘three witches’, marked by the expiry of several futures contracts and options on indices and shares.

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