(News Bulletin 247) – The New York Stock Exchange is expected in the red on Wednesday morning, new signs of a slowdown in the job market having confirmed fears surrounding the health of the economy.

Half an hour before the opening, futures contracts on the major New York indices fell between 0.1% and 0.2%, announcing a cautious start to the session.

After the cold spell thrown yesterday by the disappointing statistics of industrial orders, investors cash somehow a new indicator having confirmed the slowdown in activity.

According to the monthly survey published by ADP, the American private sector indeed created only 145,000 jobs in March, a figure worse than expected and a marked slowdown compared to the 261,000 of the previous month.

This lower than expected indicator – which confirms the scenario of a slowdown in the labor market – should weigh on the opening trend.

Since yesterday, market participants seem increasingly concerned about the materialization of a next recession in the United States, but also at the global level.

“Overall, we have difficulty imagining the ‘pink’ scenario of smooth disinflation and a soft landing for the economy”, underline the managers of La Française Asset Management.

At Schroders, we consider that the recession has so far been ‘delayed’ rather than ‘evaded’.

‘If household demand slows as expected, the recession should take place in the second half of the year, or even later’, predicts the British stockbroker.

Investors are now awaiting the publication in the United States of the ISM services index, in the afternoon, before the employment report scheduled for Friday to confirm or allay fears of recession.

Risk aversion still dominates the bond market, where government bonds deemed safer remain in demand, which is reflected in a further decline in the yield of ten-year Treasuries, which falls below 3.32%.

The inversion of the curve between three-month and 10-year bonds – considered a harbinger of recession – continues to widen with now a gap of 1.5 basis points between the two maturities.

The dollar is struggling to stabilize against the euro after its decline in recent weeks, while the decline in equities favors the decline in safe havens, such as gold.

After their recent recovery, oil prices are stabilizing on concerns that the prospect of a slowing economy is weighing on demand for crude.

The May delivery contract on American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) fell 0.3% to 80.5 dollars pending the publication, one hour after the opening, of weekly oil inventories in the United States.

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