By chuck mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended in order dispersed Wednesday after the publication of data showing that the American economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time in three years, highlighting the concerns around the impact of customs duties decided by the White House and the trade war that ensured.

The Dow Jones index won 0.35%, or 141.74 points, at 40,669.36 points.

The wider S&P-500 took 8.23 ​​points, or 0.15%, at 5,569.06 points.

The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part of 14.98 points (0.09%) to 17,446.34 points.

The S&P-500 and the Dow Jones, which experienced a lower 2.3% and 1.9% during the session, respectively in the green just before the Gong. It is for the S&P-500 of a seventh consecutive day of increase.

Throughout the month, only the Nasdaq records slight gains, the rebound recently observed at Wall Street having not erased the tremors in early April.

A report by the US trade department indicates Wednesday that the United States gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.3% over the January-March period, while analysts anticipated an average growth of 0.3%.

In addition, consumer expenditure, which represents more of two-thirds of economic activity, climbed 0.7% in March, beating the consensus which appeared at +0.5%.

In both cases, the trade war launched by the new customs duties announced by US President Donald Trump seems to have weighed. Companies and consumers have precipitated certain expenses in order to be ahead of the entry into force of new American taxes.

Like other recent data, those communicated on Wednesday suggest an increasingly uncertain horizon for the American economy, as the unpredictable commercial policy of Donald Trump.

According to an ADP report, revealing the state of the labor market in the United States, also published during the day, the private sector has created fewer jobs than expected in March.

“It is important to recognize that a large part of the decline in GDP is due to the sharp increase in imports, which subtracts from GDP growth. This is probably the consequence of the prospect of customs duties,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice-president of Wealthspire Advisors, in Connecticut.

“If we normalize this, we get GDP growth for the quarter,” he said. “But that doesn’t bode well for the second quarter (…),” he added.

Traders now anticipate that the Federal Reserve (FED) will reduce interest rates of a percentage point in total this year, although the president and other officials of the American central bank said that it would be cautious before changing its monetary policy.

If they have rebounded over the month, the main clues of Wall Street did not find their levels before April 2, when Donald Trump announced large so -called reciprocal taxes on the products of dozens of countries – before announcing a partial three months.

The confusing trade policy of the American president has nourished the uncertainty and volatility on the markets, making forget the enthusiasm born at the time of his electoral victory last November, which suggested to investors favorable business measures.

Meta Platforms and Microsoft, among the “Seven Magnificent” of Wall Street, published their quarterly results after the fence. The results of Apple and Amazon are expected on Thursday evening.

Main catalysts of Wall Street gains last year, under the effect of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the major technological titles are concerned.

Adding to concerns about deceleration from the AI ​​sector, Super Micro Computer has revised its forecasts for the current quarter, citing postponement in customer expenses. The group dropped 11.5% on Wednesday.

Snap lost 12.4% after having said that he would not provide forecast for the second quarter, imitating a range of companies from various sectors that have made similar decisions.

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(Written by Jean Terzian)

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