The New York Stock Exchange lacked direction after opening on Wednesday, with investors awaiting the release of the minutes of the Fed’s latest monetary meeting. Around 2:00 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones advanced 0.10%, the Nasdaq dropped 0.02% and the S&P 500 gleaned 0.09%.
The day before, after a lackluster session with little trade, all three indices ended slightly down. The Dow Jones dropped 0.29% to 33,430.24 points, the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.05% to 13,698.38 points, and the S&P 500 was just back from its high on Monday, losing 0.10% to 4,073.94 points.
“Trading has slowed these days as investors rotate ahead of the start of corporate earnings season.”, which begins next week, said Art Hogan of National Securities.
“Maybe the Fed minutes”, who will report on the discussions of the Monetary Committee of the US Central Bank at its last meeting on March 17, “will bring some excitement to the market”, suggested Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
At this meeting, President Jerome Powell and the Committee unanimously reiterated that monetary policy would remain ultra-accommodative for the time being with continued purchases of Treasuries and that if inflation did appear, it would only be temporary. .
Trade deficit at its highest
Investors will be attentive to the reaction of bond yields on 10-year Treasuries after the minutes. These rates remained stable at the opening around 1.66% after having climbed since the start of the year when they did not exceed 1% on fears of an overheating of the economy and prices.
Among the other economic data of the day, the US trade deficit reached an all-time high of $ 71.1 billion in February on the effect of a decline in exports greater than that of exports.
JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon “tried to brighten up the market” in his letter to shareholders released Wednesday, also noted Patrick O’Hare.
“The US economy is expected to flourish until 2023”Jamie Dimon wrote, citing the US administration’s massive stimulus spending, infrastructure law and “the euphoria around the end of the pandemic” as the main drivers.
Stocks in the traditional economy were gaining momentum, allowing the Dow Jones to stay in the green after a hesitant open. Cruise line Carnival, which reported an increase in bookings for future cruises, climbed almost 5% while Royal Carribean Group and Norwegian Cruise advanced more than 3%.
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