PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened slightly in the green on Tuesday, with investors showing some caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting.

Caution is also linked to the expectation of macroeconomic indicators, including the official monthly employment report, and results from large companies such as Microsoft (-0.01%) after the disappointment caused by the publications of Alphabet (+0.69%) and Tesla (-1.29%).

In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 149.75 points, or 0.37%, to 40,689.68 points, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.33% to 5,481.98 points.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.37%, or 64.72 points, to 17,434.92 points.

The Fed is expected to opt for the status quo on its rates for the immediate future on Wednesday, but investors will be particularly watching the comments of its chairman Jerome Powell in the perspective of confirmation of the first reduction in borrowing costs in the United States expected in September.

“While it is not clear that the economy needs more monetary policy easing, the very low number of successful soft landings after a Fed rate hike cycle shows the danger of waiting too long to cut rates,” writes Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Asset Management.

A comment deemed restrictive by Jerome Powell could trigger a new sell-off in stocks, particularly in the technology sector where the bar has been set very high in terms of valuations since the beginning of the year. “Tech” has recently suffered from the rotation towards small and mid-caps on fears of overvaluation, allowing a jump in the Russell 2000 index (-1.09%), which is on track to achieve its best monthly performance since the beginning of the year.

Investors are also awaiting Friday’s report on job creation, wages and unemployment for July in the United States, while the Jolts survey on job openings and the Conference Board consumer sentiment index will be published at 1400 GMT.

In the stock market, Merck & Co fell 4.61% after revising downwards its annual profit forecast on Tuesday despite a better-than-expected second quarter, while Pfizer was in the green (+0.29%) thanks to the increase in its annual profit forecast after higher-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine. The health sector gained 0.13%.

Paypal jumped 8.53% after raising its full-year adjusted profit forecast for the second time this year.

Procter & Gamble fell 5.91% as it missed fourth-quarter sales forecasts amid reduced consumer spending in the US and Europe. The consumer goods sector fell 1.25%.

CrowdStrike fell 4.37% after reports that Delta Air Lines (+0.85%) has demanded compensation from the cybersecurity firm and Microsoft for the recent massive computer outage that affected flights worldwide.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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