The Dow Jones index gained 0.20% and the broader S&P 500 index 0.04% while the Nasdaq, with a strong technological color, gave up 0.18%, around 13:45 GMT.
On Tuesday, the session was quiet on Wall Street, the only Western stock exchange that remained open for Easter Monday. The Dow Jones index had gained 0.30% to 33,586.52 points, the Nasdaq had given up 0.03% to 12,084.36 points and the S&P 500 had advanced 0.10% to 4,109.11 points.
"The market lacks conviction this morning. Tomorrow we will have the consumer price index for March, so investors are taking a wait-and-see attitude before this report and also before the first bank results on Friday," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.
In the bond market too, yields remained flat at 3.41% as the previous day for yields on 10-year Treasury bills.
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. Over the month, 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 increase year-on-year to 5.6% against 5.5% in February, showing that the price of services continues to rise.
Inflation will be closely watched by investors as it should give clues about the attitude of the Federal Reserve, which will hold its next monetary policy meeting on May 2 and 3.
Markets will also have at their disposal on Wednesday at 18:00 GMT the valuable minutes (the "minutes") of the previous Fed meeting that will give them indications on the mood of the Monetary Committee when it decided to raise interest rates for the ninth time in a row.
On Tuesday, several Central Bank officials will also speak. John Williams, the president of the New York Fed, has already estimated that the banking crisis has so far "not brought clear signs of a tightening of credit conditions".
© 2023 AFP