(News Bulletin 247) – The New York Stock Exchange moved without a clear trend on Thursday, while government bond yields rose against a backdrop of tightening monetary policies by the major central banks.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones fell 0.2% to 33,877.7 points, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2% to 13,524.2 points.
The consolidation phase at work on the American stock market since last Friday continues, with investors worrying that the major central banks will continue to hike rates.
After the not very accommodating remarks made yesterday by Jerome Powell, the boss of the Fed, the fear of a re-acceleration of monetary tightening was fed this Thursday by the Bank of England, which warned that it could still raise its key rates in the face of persistent inflation.
Previously, it was the Swiss National Bank (SNB) which had continued to tighten its monetary policy by raising its key rate by 25 basis points to bring it to 1.75%.
The concerted monetary tightening of central banks lead to a rise in bond yields, the rate of 10-year US Treasury bonds took six basis points to 3.78%.
At the sector level, the S&P index of non-essential consumption posted the strongest increase of the day (+1.2%), followed by that of technology, which advanced by 0.6%.
On the other side of the spectrum, the values ​​of energy (-1.3%), industry (-0.6%) and raw materials (-0.7%) weigh particularly heavily on the trend.
Tighter credit conditions typically herald weaker GDP growth and higher default rates, which warrants caution towards more cyclical sectors.
The index that measures the volatility of the S&P 500, called the ‘fear index’, rises a little but remains around 13.5 points, at its lowest levels since January 2020.
On the values ​​side, FedEx rose 3.3% following the publication of its quarterly results, marked in particular by an improvement in its cost structure.
Amazon climbed 3.8% following favorable comments from BofA analysts, who called the stock their “preferred stock” in the e-commerce sector.
Tesla continues to decline (-0.1%) in the wake of a downgrade by Morgan Stanley, mainly on valuation issues after the strong performance recorded by the action since the start of the year.
Copyright (c) 2023 News Bulletin 247. All rights reserved.
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
