PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange rose shortly after the opening on Thursday, investors holding back announcements from the Federal Reserve that it could stop raising its rates in the coming months.

In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 230.38 points, or 0.72%, to 32,260.49 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.95% to 3,974.53 points.

The Nasdaq Composite took 1.38%, or 160.981 points, to 11,830.937.

The Federal Reserve raised its main rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but it mainly hinted that only one additional hike, of the same magnitude, would follow this year.

And although Jerome Powell warned that banking stress could impact credit conditions, that the fight against inflation was not over and that no rate cut was envisaged in 2023, participants in the American market prefer to see the glass half full.

Bank of America and UBS no longer expect a rate hike in June and believe that a peak should be reached in May, at 5-5.25% and 5.25-5.5% respectively.

The money markets, which a few weeks ago were counting on a target rate for the “fed funds” close to 6% in September, are now seeing the rate peak at 4.9% in May.

“We can’t rule out that stronger macro data will cause the Fed to proceed with rate hikes beyond May… But for now, we think the odds are tilted towards an early end to the cycle. tightening,” said Michael Gapen, an economist at Bank of America Securities.

Treasury yields retreat at this outlook, supporting growth stocks like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, up 0.86% to 1.54%.

Regeneron climbed 7.63% thanks to the promising results of its drug Dupixent, developed with the French Sanofi, in a trial on “smoker’s bronchitis”.

Accenture takes 4.80% after announcing the loss of approximately 2.5% of its workforce, or 19,000 jobs.

(Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)

Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters