New York (AFP)
The New York Stock Exchange ended in disarray on Wednesday after statements by the US Central Bank (Fed) promising low rates for a long time but warning of a "long way" before regaining full employment.
At the close on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished modestly up 0.13% to 28,032.38 points while the Nasdaq lost what it had gained the day before, registering down 1.25% at 11,050.47 points.
The broader S&P 500 Index finished slightly in the red, losing 0.46% to 3,385.49 points.
For Quincy Krosby of Prudential, the Fed's diagnosis was broadly interpreted positively by the market, especially among small and medium-sized businesses.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said further financial assistance to American households and businesses would be "likely necessary" to enable the economy to recover from the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Russell 2000 index, which includes small caps, remained solidly in the green, gaining 0.92%.
"Estimates of the evolution of rates show them maintained at least until 2023" at their current level between 0% and 0.25%, said Kathy Bostjancic, of Oxford Economics.
"This supports our forecast that the Fed will keep rates close to zero until mid-2024, perhaps longer," said the economist.
The Nasdaq, which includes technology stocks and which had suffered strong losses last week, remained in the red, ballasted by Amazon (-2.47%), Apple (-2.95%) and Tesla (-1.78% ).
“In IPO season, investors can sometimes sell their assets to participate in an IPO,” Ms. Krosby said.
This may be what happened to Snowflake, the cloud data storage company, which went public on Wednesday.
Snowflake doubled down: while its introductory price was set at $ 120, it more than doubled to end at $ 253.93.
© 2020 AFP