PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on a hesitant note on Wednesday before the announcement of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions, which must combine with still high inflation and market concerns for the banking sector.

In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 38.41 points, or 0.12%, to 32,522.19 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.11% to 3,998.54 points.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.16%, or 18.881 points, to 11,841.228.

Investors’ attention is fully focused on the meeting of the Fed’s Monetary Policy Committee (FOMC), after which the central bank should, according to a majority of observers, announce at 6:00 p.m. GMT a new increase in a quarter point of the rate target of the “fed funds”.

The markets are also awaiting, if not above all, the new forecasts from the Fed as well as an update of the expectations of its decision-makers concerning the evolution of interest rates (‘dot plots’).

“It will be important to know how it views the current turmoil on banks and whether it still expects further rate hikes after today’s,” Deutsche Bank said.

“Our American economists believe that the decision [de la Banque centrale européenne] last week offers a relevant blueprint for the Fed: raise rates in line with expectations, abandon forward guidance while suggesting a continued tightening bias,” the German bank added.

In the meantime, the dollar fell slightly against a basket of benchmark currencies, while the yield on ten-year Treasuries was stable at around 3.604%.

On the stock market, First Republic yields 5.39%. According to the Bloomberg agency, the authorities and major American leaders are discussing possible government support to help the regional bank cope with unrealized losses.

Nike dropped 2.02% after the sports equipment maker warned of its 2023 gross margin, due to a strong dollar, higher shipping costs and deep discounts offered to reduce its excess inventory.

(Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)

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