(New York) The New York Stock Exchange opened hesitantly and haphazardly on Wednesday as investors gauged the risks of a slowing economy.

The Dow Jones Index climbed 0.14%, the tech-heavy NASDAQ fell 0.87% and the S

The day before, Wall Street had finished slightly lower, with the three main New York indices losing half a percentage point.

Just ahead of Wednesday’s open, ADP’s monthly US private employment survey showed another sign of cooling in the labor market.

Job creations in the private sector slowed to 145,000 in March against 205,000 expected and after 261,000 in February (figure revised upwards).

These figures are published two days before the official employment report which should see, according to analysts’ forecasts, a weakening of job creation and an unemployment rate stable at 3.6%.

The Department of Commerce has also reported a widening US trade deficit, with both a decrease in exports, but also a decline in imports.

“The bottom line is that this decline in both exports and imports reflects a slowdown in global trade,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.

“This weakening in activity should be viewed favorably by the Federal Reserve (Fed)” as it should slow inflation at the same time “but it invites stock markets to pause after their strong rise since mid- March,” the analyst added.

Other bad news: the activity index in services (ISM) slowed to 51.2% in March against 55.1% the month before and 54.3% expected by analysts.

Activity in services, the leading sector of the American economy, thus continues to expand slightly, while that of the manufacturing sector, published Monday for the month of March, is already in recession at 46.3%.

On the side, Johnson

The company said more than 60,000 complainants had agreed to such a dispute resolution.

In the bond market, yields eased, materializing fears of recession. Ten-year rates fell to 3.28% from 3.33% the previous day and two-year rates fell to 3.70% from 3.82%.