(New York) Western stock markets were cautious on Tuesday, while waiting to know the outcome of the monetary policy meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) and against a backdrop of rising oil prices and bond rates.
The Paris (+0.08%) and London (+0.09%) stock markets finished close to balance, while Frankfurt fell by 0.40%, under pressure from high interest rates on the bond market.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones lost 0.31%, the NASDAQ index lost 0.23% and the broader S&P 500 index lost 0.22%.
“There is not a lot of conviction at the moment” on Wall Street, reacted Patrick O’Hare, of Briefing.com, before the communication from the American central bank (Fed) on Wednesday.
Operators are counting, almost unanimously, on a status quo from the Fed, but are focused on the forecasts of the members of the institution in terms of economic growth and monetary trajectory.
“There is a little nervousness in the bond market,” he added. “We are talking about the possibility that the Fed dampens the market’s hopes for rate cuts in 2024.”
The yield on 10-year US government bonds rose on Tuesday to its highest level in 15 years, at 4.3667%.
This acceleration is also due to the surge in oil prices, which has brought back the specter of inflation out of control in recent weeks, likely to push the Fed to further harden its position.
In Europe, ten-year sovereign rates also tightened, with that of the ten-year German debt standing at 2.74% compared to 2.71% on Monday.
Instacart is off to a good start
The big event of the session was the stock market debut of the grocery delivery platform Instacart. After being catapulted in the first exchanges, and having taken up to 43%, the action of the San Francisco group stalled, still gaining 12.33%.
The platform is now valued at around $9.3 billion, or $11.3 billion if you count the titles awarded to Instacart employees and managers.
Kingfisher severely punished
The British group of DIY stores Kingfisher, owner in France of Castorama and Brico Dépôt, announced on Tuesday that it was revising its annual targets downwards, after a 36.5% drop in its net profit in the first half. The announcement caused its stock to plunge by more than 12% in London.
Oil more expensive
Oil prices ended slightly lower on Tuesday after jumping earlier in the session, an inflection similar to that of Monday, reflecting a market that fears a slowdown in demand.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in November fell by 0.09%, to close at $94.34.
As for a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), due in October, it lost 0.30%, to $91.20.
On the foreign exchange market, the greenback gained 0.11% against the single currency, at 1.0679 dollars per euro.