PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Thursday, with investors being cautious before the publication of the US employment report for September while the lull in the bond sector limits the decline in stocks.

In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 4.38 points, or 0.01%, to 33,125.17 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.03% to 4,262.45 points.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.02%, or 3.17 points, to 13,232.834.

The monthly report from the US Department of Labor will be published on Friday at 12:30 GMT and the Reuters consensus forecasts a drop in job creation to 170,000, an unemployment rate also down to 3.7% but an acceleration in the growth of average hourly wages at 0.3% over one month and 4.3% over one year.

In the meantime, the weekly unemployment registration statistics showed an increase last week on Thursday, to 207,000 compared to 205,000 the previous week. This seems to confirm a slowdown in the job market across the Atlantic following the publication of the survey by the private firm ADP, which reported lower job creation than expected in September. Weekly unemployment registrations are, however, higher than expected and the Jolts survey on job offers, published Monday, also showed a more mixed picture.

Questions therefore remain about the effectiveness of the transmission of the monetary policy of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) while several of its members, including the vice-president of the institution responsible for banking supervision Michael Barr, must express during the day.

In the bond compartment, the rise in yields on ten-year US Treasury bonds has stabilized at 4.7102%, but the rate for this maturity is at its highest since 2007.

Technology stocks like Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet fell from 0.26% to 0.74%.

Dell Technologies lost 1.38%, the PC manufacturer having announced that it only anticipated annual growth in its turnover of 3% to 4% in the long term.

Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive plunges 12.34% after announcing Wednesday its intention to sell convertible green bonds worth $1.5 billion.

The energy groups Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil and Occidental Petroleum dropped from 0.29% to 1.73% in the wake of a new decline in oil amid concerns about crude demand.

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(Writing by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)

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