by David French

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended in mixed order on Wednesday, with only the Nasdaq ending in the green, so investors favored caution after the publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve (Fed ), despite the absence of surprises on the latter’s monetary policy.

The Dow Jones index fell 0.26%, or 84.50 points, to 33,045.09 points.

The broader S&P-500 fell 6.29 points, or 0.16%, to 3,991.05 points.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced for its part by 14.77 points (0.13%) to 11,507.07 points.

Released in the afternoon, the “minutes” of the Fed’s monetary policy meeting concluded on February 1 show that “virtually all” US central bank officials were in favor of a slowdown in rate hikes, with a 25 basis point hike.

Elements of this report fueled the idea that high inflation remained a key factor in the direction of the Fed’s monetary policy and that the Fed could decide on additional rate hikes to achieve control of the inflation.

This is not really a surprise, given the comments made in recent weeks by the governors of the US central bank.

Thus, the main Wall Street indices have changed little in the wake of the publication of these “minutes”, after having experienced an ups and downs at the start of the session.

The S&P-500 and the Dow Jones, however, have weakened in the last hour, returning to the red, from which the Nasdaq narrowly extricated itself to avoid a fourth consecutive session of decline.

According to Ed Moya, analyst at OANDA, “it is clear that the Fed is determined to continue its rate hike campaign, and it will do so even as the risk of a recession grows.”

“That’s why, after digesting the ‘minutes’, the markets weakened a bit,” he said.

Wall Street’s decline, however, was less marked than the day before, with Tuesday’s session ending with the largest decline of the three major indexes since the start of the year.

After last year’s jolts from the Fed’s inflation-tightening monetary policy, the New York stock market rebounded in January on hopes that the aggressive rate-hike campaign was nearing its end. END.

But volatility has returned this month, with financial markets expecting higher rates for longer amid fears that inflation will persist.

Most of the major S&P-500 sectors declined during the session, led by energy and real estate.

* The reminder of the session in Europe: [.EUFR]

* TO BE FOLLOWED Thursday:

( Jean Terzian)

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