The Dow Jones index advanced by 0.29% to 33,684.79 points, the Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloration, gave up 0.43% to 12,031.88 points and the S&P 500 remained stable (0.00%).

"The market has certainly remained in waiting mode because a lot is brewing between the consumer price index, the producer price index on Thursday and the banking results on Friday," Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told AFP.

On the bond market, yields on ten-year Treasury bonds were little changed, at 3.42% around 20:00 GMT against 3.41% the day before.

Analysts expect inflation in the United States, according to the CPI index, to fall to 5.1% year-on-year, a low in almost two years, from 6% year-on-year in February. In March alone, it should stick to +0.2% against +0.4%, the month before.

On the other hand, according to Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management, core inflation, excluding volatile sectors such as food and energy, could remain stubborn. It is expected to stand at 5.6% over one year against 5.5% in February, showing that the price of services continues to rise.

These figures should support the idea that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will tighten the monetary screw by another quarter point at its next meeting in early May.

But some Fed officials are urging caution in rate hikes. Austan Golsbee, the new president of the Chicago Fed and voting member of the Monetary Committee, said Tuesday it was necessary to "gather more data and be careful not to raise rates too aggressively."

Markets will also have at their disposal on Wednesday at 18:00 GMT the valuable minutes (the "minutes") of the previous Fed meeting which will give them indications on the state of mind of the Committee when it decided at the end of March to raise interest rates for the ninth time in a row.

Investors were hardly shaken by the IMF's gloomy projections, which, by opening its spring meetings, lowered its global growth forecast for 2 to 8.2023%.

"American investors have the gift of ignoring what is happening elsewhere in the world," said Steve Sosnick, noting, however, that the US bond market has been taking into account, for some time now, a slowdown in the economy "more important than that".

At the rating, the manufacturer of vaccines Moderna fell 3.06% after acknowledging that its flu vaccine was not showing the expected success. The laboratory has also delayed the delivery schedule of its vaccine against viruses that reach the respiratory system (RSV).

Apple dropped 0.76% to $160.80 as its PC shipments fell in the first quarter. Information from the specialized site Axios also evoked an antitrust investigation of regulators in France on the technologies of tracking applications of the computer giant.

Used car seller CarMax soared 9.58% after announcing better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. On a like-for-like basis, sales fell by 22% while analysts had forecast a fall of 27%.

The aircraft manufacturer Boeing took 0.74% to $ 212.34 while it delivered 130 aircraft in the first quarter, three more than its European competitor Airbus.

Among the major banks preparing to report results on Friday Citigroup climbed 1.46%, Wells Fargo 1.92% while JPMorgan Chase rose 0.51%.

© 2023 AFP