PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened slightly higher on Thursday after the publication of new data showing the strength of the American economy despite an accelerated monetary tightening cycle which could last longer than expected.

In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 28.3 points, or 0.08%, to 33,880.96 points, while the larger Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 0.05% to 4,379.33 points.

The Nasdaq Composite nibbles 0.13%, or 17.314 points, to 13,609.064.

An hour before Wall Street opened, final gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the US Department of Commerce showed that the economy grew in the first quarter stronger than initially estimated, by 2 .0% at an annualized rate compared to the previous three months.

Meanwhile, jobless claims last week in the United States fell to 239,000 after 265,000 (revised) the previous week.

The data comes on top of data released earlier this week in the US on new durable goods orders, which unexpectedly rose in May, new home sales which jumped to their highest level since February 2022. , while consumer confidence hit a near year-and-a-half high in June.

These statistics ward off fears of a recession, despite a target for the federal funds rate now at 5.00%-5.25%, compared to a rate close to zero before the start of the tightening cycle that began in March 2022.

The words of Jerome Powell, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, that he does not see inflation returning to the central bank’s target “this year or next year”, as well as the plea of ​​several officials of the Fed in favor of at least two other rate hikes by the end of the year, however somewhat limiting risk taking on the equity markets.

Traders are pricing in an 81.8% chance of a 25 basis point Fed rate hike in July after the pause seen this month, up from a 74.4% chance a week ago.

In values, the big banks Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are advancing by around 1.23% to 2.03% after the results of the Fed’s annual “stress test” which show that these establishments have enough capital to face a serious economic crisis.

“The market is feeling relief because the tests are critical. The fact that banks are doing very well in near-depression conditions tells us that fears about banks were probably overblown,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital. .

Apple, which on Wednesday came close to the symbolic bar of 3,000 billion dollars in market capitalization, takes 0.33%.

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(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)

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