PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on Wednesday in a context of nervousness before Donald Trump’s announcements on new customs duties that could accentuate trade tensions worldwide.

In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index lost 339.18 points, or 0.81%, at 41,650.78 points. Standard & Poor’s 500, larger, fell from 59.35 points, or 1.05%, to 5,573.72 points. The Nasdaq Composite gives way 253.61 points, or 1.45%, to 17,196.28 points.

The American president, who made April 2 the “Liberation Day” (“Liberation Day”), must detail at 8:00 pm GMT, during a ceremony in the Roseraie de la Maison Blanche, the measures he intends to set up to “rebalance” world trade.

Fearing measures that could feed inflation, slow down economic growth and worsen commercial conflicts, markets are already nervous, as evidenced by the high increase in the VIX index (+7.25% to 23.35 points), currently close to a two -week summit.

“I do not remember a situation where the issues were so important and the outcome as unpredictable,” comments Steve Sosnick, a strategic chief at Interactive Brokers.

This uncertainty feeds the rush towards the refuge assets, the gold remaining close to its record level of Tuesday, at 3.148.88 dollars on the ounce.

In terms of economic indicators of the day, pending the publication on Friday of the official monthly report on US employment, the investigation of the Cabinet ADP shows an acceleration of post creations in March, reassuring a little as to the fear of an upcoming recession in the United States.

At the values, Nvidia fell 2.81%, Microsoft of 1.34%and Amazon by 1.79%, the technological giants continuing to undergo a sale movement while the NASDAQ index is in the correction zone.

Tesla fell by 6.11% after the announcement of a decline of 13% of its vehicle deliveries worldwide as the first quarter.

Boeing lost 1.30% while its managing director, Kelly Ortberg, must be explained before the Senate Commerce Commission on recent aircraft manufacturer’s security problems.

Trump Media & Technology Group drops 7.70%. The Axios information site reported that the group has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American stock market gendarme, which would allow Donald Trump Trust to sell stocks of a value of up to $ 2.3 billion.

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(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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