The New York Stock Exchange was down sharply on Tuesday, penalized by economic figures that could prompt the Federal Reserve not to raise interest rates immediately.

At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones dropped 1.3% to 38,309.6 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost more than 1.3% to 15,729.8 points.

The consumer price index (CPI) figures published this morning by the Labor Department showed a less marked deceleration than expected in January.

The index rose by 3.1% last month at an annual rate, marking a 0.3 point drop compared with December 2023, a figure above the consensus of analysts, who were hoping for a return of the indicator below the 3% mark, in line with the 2% target set by the Fed.

This confirms our diagnosis that the inflation problem cannot be easily solved because of the significant rise in wages", explain Commerzbank analysts.

"These figures do not, however, change the fundamental approach, according to which inflationary pressures are easing", adds the German bank.

The CME Group's FedWatch barometer, which is based on credit market futures levels, now reflects a less than 10% probability of a rate cut in March, which seemed a foregone conclusion at the start of the year.

Even the scenario of monetary easing in May now seems to be on the wane, with an estimated probability of 39%, with investors now betting more than 50% on a first rate cut in June.

On the fixed-income market, the yield on US ten-year bonds climbed more than ten basis points to almost 4.28%, the highest in almost three months.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar also regained ground with the rise in the greenback's yield, pushing the euro down to around 1.0720.

Market participants were unable to reassure themselves with the contrasting quarterly results published this morning by several major stock market players.

On the Dow, Coca-Cola was down 1% after reporting a 10% rise in fourth-quarter earnings, thanks to organic growth of 12%.

Toymaker Hasbro was down more than 3% after reporting results well below expectations for the fourth quarter, and was cautious for fiscal 2024.

Only Nvidia stood out on the upside (+1.5%) thanks to a price target increase from UBS, which came a week before the chipmaker's quarterly publication.

With a valuation of almost $1,900 billion, the group has taken Amazon's place as the world's fourth-largest market capitalization.

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