The Dow Jones index yielded 0.54%, the Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, dropped 0.68% and the S&P 500 0.65% around 3:15 p.m. GMT.

“The market is continuing the path it took on Friday after the much stronger than expected jobs report,” summarized Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

On Friday the indices had ended in decline, weighed down by unexpectedly good job market figures with 517,000 new hires in January when analysts expected 187,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, its lowest level since May 1969.

This good health of the labor market suggests that the fight against inflation may require more increases in the cost of credit to slow the economy, which does not please the equity market.

On Friday, the Dow Jones had fallen by 0.38% to 33,800 points, the Nasdaq index by 1.59% to 12,505.25 points and the broader S&P 500 index by 1.04% to 4,118.75 points.

Market players now expect at 70.9% - against only 30% on Thursday before the publication of employment figures - a third rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point in May, after the one that comes to intervene last week and the one anticipated in March, according to the evolution of futures products calculated by CME Group.

Rates on two-year Treasury bills, which react most strongly to changes in interest rates, rose to 4.41% from 4.28% at the end of the week.

Those at 30 were also clearly tending to 3.62% against 3.52% on Friday.

The dollar advanced 0.55% against the euro to 1.0737 dollars per euro and 0.60% against major currencies, according to the Dollar Index.

Geopolitical tensions with the incident of the Chinese balloon flying over the United States and shot down on Saturday by Washington, do not help to raise the morale of investors, also noted Patrick O'Hare.

Finally, an important speech by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Jerome Powell, then interviewed by the Economic Club of Washington, on the state of the European economy and the measures of the Central Bank is expected on Tuesday.

On the corporate news side, Activision Blizzard (-3.39% at 3:15 p.m. GMT) is due to report earnings on Monday;

Uber, Walt Disney, Pepsico will follow this week.

On the side, the mining giant Newmont, one of the main gold mining companies in the world, announced that it had made a takeover offer on its Australian rival Newcrest for around 17 billion dollars.

The initiative was poorly received, the action losing 4.05% dollars.

The eleven sectors of the S&P were in the red, starting with real estate (-1.32%), a sector sensitive to the prospect of rising rates.

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© 2023 AFP