Around 2:00 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones index dropped 1.14%, the Nasdaq 1.28%, and the S&P 500 1.15% at the opening, after the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Oil prices climbed to their highest level in more than two months and ten-year bond yields stretched to 2.86% from 2.73% at the last close.

On Friday, the indices had garnered their first weekly increase in nearly two months, the Dow Jones index having advanced, during the session, by 1.76% to 33,212.96 points.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq jumped 3.33% to 12,131.13 points and the S&P 500 jumped 2.47% to 4,158.24 points.

Tuesday's mood reflected renewed concerns around inflation, as price inflation in Europe soared to a record high in May (+8.1%), according to Eurostat.

On the oil side, the prices of Brent (a benchmark European variety) pranced above 124 dollars a barrel, at a level not seen since the beginning of March, inflamed by the announcement of an embargo on the bulk of Russian oil by the European Union, after weeks of negotiations.

“The EU has agreed to ban the bulk of Russian oil imports, although pipeline shipments are still allowed and Hungary has a waiver,” summarized Chris Low, chief economist for FHN. .

"It's a smaller step than expected...but it's enough to take crude to a peak," he added.

Fuel prices were also boosted by the news, favorable to demand, that Shanghai announced a further relaxation of health restrictions, a further step towards lifting the containment against the Covid-19 in progress for two months.

The week also promised to be rich in economic information with in perspective, on Friday in the United States, the figures for job creations, unemployment and the evolution of hourly wages for May.

Any communication from the Federal Reserve (Fed) will be watched as a meeting of its Monetary Committee (FOMC) and a very likely further rate hike of half a percentage point is scheduled in two weeks.

Biden-Powell meeting

In the early afternoon of Tuesday, President Joe Biden will meet with Fed boss Jerome Powell in the Oval Office "to discuss the state of the U.S. and global economy and the president's top economic priority. : fight inflation," the White House said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will attend this meeting.

As we enter the last week that Fed leaders can air their views ahead of the FOMC meeting, Governor Chris Waller has called for several half-percentage-point rate hikes.

“This suggests that he favors a continuation of 50 basis point hikes until September”, while the majority of markets are currently betting on increases of this magnitude in June and July only, underlined Patrick. Briefing O'Hare.

“This view acted as a headwind early in the session and prompted selling of Treasuries,” the rate of which climbs inversely to price, he said.

For analysts at Schwab, "market volatility appears to be continuing after taking a short break last week as inflation pushed the Fed to raise rates, fueling concerns about a slowing economy and a possible recession.

New York stock indexes had gained more than 6% last week, posting a long-awaited rebound after the worst start to the year since 1970.

Compared to January when they were sailing at historic highs, the Dow Jones index remains down 8.60%, the Nasdaq has melted by 22% and the S&P 500 has fallen by more than 12%.

Several companies were due to announce their quarterly results after the closing bell on Tuesday.

These include customer relationship management platform Salesforce (-2.25% at open), computer and printer maker HP (-0.36%) and retailer Victoria's Secret (-1 ,32%).

The chipmaker Qualcomm lost 1.18% to 138 dollars, while it is interested in a stake in the Arm semiconductor group on the occasion of the IPO of the British manufacturer acquired by Softbank in 2016.

© 2022 AFP