New York (AFP)
The New York Stock Exchange was in the red on Wednesday, cautious before the decision of the Federal Reserve (Fed), which is expected to announce a modest decline in its key rates.
The leading Wall Street index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost, around 13:50 GMT, 0.27%, to 27,037.90 points.
The Nasdaq, with strong technological color, released 0.34%, to 8,158.35 points and the broad index S & P 500 0.24%, to 2,995.61 points.
Wall Street had closed higher on Tuesday, after an indecisive session in which investors were positioned upstream of the monetary policy meeting of the Fed: the Dow Jones had reaped 0.13% and the Nasdaq had taken 0 , 40%.
"A cut in the Fed's key interest rate by 25 basis points is expected today, a 50 basis point decrease would be preferable because it would help normalize the yield curve (on bond yields, Ed), but the Fed continue to move slowly, "commented Financial's Chris Low.
If a majority of investors expect a reduction in the Fed's overnight rate, which would be the second of the year after the 25 basis points, or a quarter of a percentage point, announced late July, some analysts remained on their guard.
"It appears that US economic activity is not adrift despite trade tensions, weak global growth and flattening or inversion of the yield curve," noted Patrick O'Hare, Briefing .
The expert cites in particular the increase in housing starts in the United States in August, which reached their highest level since June 2007 and far exceeded expectations, according to data from the Commerce Department released Wednesday.
The expectation of the Federal Reserve's decision was, moreover, blurred by two interventions by the New York Fed on the money markets.
The latter injected $ 75 billion Wednesday morning after $ 53 billion the day before through its tool for taking out funds for overnight.
Very short-term contracts have jumped since Tuesday after the liquidity market dried up. The purpose of these transactions is to reduce them to a range between 2 and 2.25%, which is the current level of the Fed's key interest rates.
In the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt was 1.761%, down from the previous day (1.801%).
© 2019 AFP