(News Bulletin 247) – Wall Street started the session on an undecided note on Wednesday morning, in a cautious market on the eve of the publication of new inflation figures and after three sessions of increases in a row.

A little over an hour after opening, the Dow Jones is stable at 34,854 points, while the Nasdaq Composite nibbles around 0.2% at 13,980 points.

Even if the state of the global economy is still worrying, the stock markets have been better oriented lately, thanks in particular to the prospect of an imminent end to the Fed’s rate hikes.

The S&P 500, the benchmark for US managers, rose almost 1.5% yesterday, its best daily performance since June, which allows it to post a gain of 2.8% in the space of three sessions.

However, we will have to wait for the publication tomorrow of the PCE price index, which is still closely watched by the markets, to try to see more clearly.

Knowing that the Federal Reserve is also particularly attentive to these figures, reassuring data would ratify the end of its monetary tightening cycle.

The latest indicators have also confirmed the effectiveness of the restrictive monetary policy orchestrated by the Fed in terms of economic activity.

GDP growth in the United States thus came out at an annualized 2.1% in the second quarter, according to a second estimate from the Commerce Department, which had assessed it at 2.4% at first reading.

This acceleration in growth, compared to the 2% observed in the first quarter, is much weaker than the market expected, since the consensus was on the contrary aiming for an upward revision to 2.6%.

Another sign of slowdown, the private sector generated only 177,000 new jobs in August, a figure down significantly from the previous month, according to the monthly survey published on Wednesday by ADP.

The focus of the week, however, remains the August employment statistics, which will be released on Friday, as well as their possible implications for the evolution of Fed policy.

In the meantime, the return to calm on the bond compartment, whose sharp rise had been the source of the renewed nervousness of investors, is confirmed day by day.

The yield on 10-year US government bonds is back towards 4.10%, a low of almost a month.

Oil prices remain on the upside, with WTI advancing 0.3% to $81.4 as US crude inventories continue to decline.

Data released this morning by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) shows that the decline in crude oil inventories has continued for a third consecutive week.

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