Wall Street closed this Wednesday in mixed terrain and the Dow Jones Industrials, its main indicator, rose a slight 0.02% in another day of concern about the US economy.
At the close of operations on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones added 5.14 points, to 32,661.84, while the selective S&P 500 fell 0.47% or 18.76 units, to 3,951.39.
The Nasdaq composite market index, which brings together the large technology companies, lost 0.66% or 76.06 integers, to 11,379.48.
Concern about the economy was accentuated today after the publication of data that reflect a contraction in the country’s productive activity for the fourth consecutive month, as well as greater pressure on prices.
The fear of the markets is that the Federal Reserve will continue with its aggressive monetary policy to try to contain inflation, which, although it has been reduced, is not doing so at the rate that many analysts expected.
Precisely today the head of the Minneapolis Fed, Neek Kashkari, said he was “open” to a further rise in interest rates, joining others who have defended this measure in recent weeks.
Those prospects have driven US government bond yields up sharply, typically dampening interest in equity markets.
The trend continued this Wednesday and the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond reached 4%, its highest level since November, although it later subsided, giving the stock market a breather.
By sector, the biggest losses were for utilities (-1.72%), real estate (-1.49%) and non-essential goods (-1.28%), and the biggest gain for energy (1.94%).
Among the 30 listed Dow Jones, the rise of Caterpillar (3.81%) stood out after the company and the unions reached a tentative agreement regarding their contracts to avoid a strike, reported specialized media.
3M (2.31%), Salesforce (2.29%) and Amgen (1.96%) also rose, compared to the decreases of Home Depot (-1.94%), Apple (-1.42%) and Walmart (-1.39%).
In other markets, Texas oil closed at $77.69 and at the end of the trading session gold rose to $1,844.00 an ounce, the yield on the 10-year US bond stood at 3.994% and the dollar lost ground against the euro, with a change of 1.0665.
With information from EFE / Photo: File / JAC
