PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange changed little at the start of the session on Wednesday, a few hours before the announcement of the Federal Reserve’s decisions, which could clarify its judgment on the evolution of prices and provide the markets indications on a possible evolution of its strategy in the months to come.
A few minutes after the start of trading, the Dow Jones index is stable at 34,299.65 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500, larger, shows a symbolic increase of 0.04% to 4,248.36 and the Nasdaq Composite takes 0, 16% to 14,095.05.
The Fed, which will publish its decisions at 18:00 GMT, should not change either the key rates or the pace of its purchases of securities on the markets (120 billion dollars per month for the moment). But investors are waiting for his new growth and inflation forecasts on the one hand, and any changes in his discourse on the economy and the risks surrounding it on the other.
And Jerome Powell, the president of the institution, who will give a press conference at 6.30 p.m. GMT, is expected to be asked about the Fed’s intentions and the risk that inflation, currently above its target, will force it to accelerate the “tapering”, the gradual reduction in its support measures.
These are all elements likely to influence bond yields, the dollar and the trend on Wall Street. On the bond market, the yield on ten-year Treasury bills fell to 1.4888%, which weighed on bank stocks: JPMorgan Chase gave up 0.34%, Bank of America 0.83%, Goldman Sachs 0.35 %.
The enterprise software giant Oracle also dropped 4.54% after saying it expected earnings for the current quarter to be lower than analysts’ expectations.
On the upside, General Motors gained 3.12% after announcing its intention to increase its investments in electric vehicles and said it expects better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter.
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