PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened in scattered order on Tuesday for the last session of a month of February marked by high volatility amid fears of a prolonged rise in interest rates after indicators pointing to a strength of the US economy.

About ten minutes after the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index lost 89.54 points, or 0.27%, to 32,799.55 points and the wider Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.032% to 3,983.54 points. .

The Nasdaq Composite, on the other hand, takes 0.2%, or 22.72 points, to 11,489.70.

After Monday’s timid rebound, following the worst weekly session on Wall Street since the beginning of the year, investors continue to seek bargain purchases but the underlying trend of an extension of the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening American remains.

On the bond markets, the yield on ten-year Treasury bills rose five points to 3.97% and that of two years by three points, to 4.82%.

Traders are now pricing in a 23% probability of a 50 basis point Fed rate hike in March and a rate peak of 5.41% in September. BofA Global Research estimates that the Fed could raise the federal funds rate to nearly 6%.

On the macroeconomic front, data released on Tuesday showed that the US trade balance deficit widened in January by 2.0% to $91.5 billion.

A smaller trade deficit had partly enabled the US economy to achieve annualized growth of 2.7% in the fourth quarter.

In values, Target takes 2.60% thanks to an unexpected increase in sales over the last three months of 2022.

Chevron is also in the green after raising its share buyback target on Tuesday to a range of between $10 billion and $20 billion a year.

Zoom Video Communications gains 0.86% after issuing a full-year profit forecast that beat expectations.

Norwegian Cruise Line, on the other hand, fell by 7.81%, its annual profit forecast having disappointed.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)

Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters