PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Thursday after new data confirmed a slowdown in U.S. inflation, bolstering the prospect of an imminent end to the Federal Reserve’s rate hike US (Fed).
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 47.8 points, or 0.14%, to 33,694.3 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.32% to 4,105.2 points.
The Nasdaq Composite took 0.72%, or 85.31 points, to 12,014.65.
An hour before Wall Street opened, the Labor Department said U.S. producer prices (PPI) contracted 0.5% in March from February as Reuters consensus forecast zero growth. Over one year, this brings the deceleration of the PPI to 2.7% after +4.9% in February and a consensus of +3.0%.
The day before, the figures published by the same American department had shown that consumer prices (CPI) in the United States had recorded a more marked slowdown in March than expected over one month (+0.1%) and at an annual rate. (+5.0%).
Meanwhile, jobless claims in the United States rose more than expected last week, to 239,000, another sign of a slowing labor market as soaring borrowing costs dampen demand.
“It’s a good sign that inflation is slowing and falling quite sharply. The jobless claims are also good news for the Fed,” said Peter Cardillo, chief economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
On the bond market, ten-year and two-year Treasury yields fell to 3.3905% and 3.9202% respectively.
Financial markets are betting on a final 25 basis point Fed rate hike in May after hikes of 475 basis points in total since March 2022, with the fed funds rate currently at 4.75%-5.00 %.
In values, before the financial publications of the major American banks scheduled for Friday, some results animate the exchanges on Thursday, including Delta Air Lines which takes 0.29%. The airline released a higher-than-expected quarterly profit forecast, citing “record” bookings for this summer.
Harley-Davidson fell 3.47% with the announcement of the departure of its financial director Gina Goetter in favor of the toy manufacturer Hasbro (+1.02%).
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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