Wall Street nervous before the Fed

(New York) The New York Stock Exchange opened lower on Tuesday at the start of a meeting of the Federal Reserve (Fed) which is expected to decide on another rate hike on Wednesday.

Around 10 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones was down 0.50%, the NASDAQ -0.32% and the broader S index

The day before, the indices had concluded a withdrawal of any loan from the balance, after the resolution of a new episode of the banking crisis with the takeover of First Republic by JPMorgan.

The Dow Jones fell 0.14% to 34,051.70 points, the tech-dominated NASDAQ fell 0.11% to 12,212.60 points and the S

At the opening, JPMorgan, the first bank in the country that has become even more essential with the recovery of viable assets from First Republic, yielded 0.28%. It closed up 2.13% on Monday.

Tuesday kicked off a two-day Fed meeting and investors expect the Fed to decide on Wednesday to raise interest rates another 0.25 basis points.

Economists will mainly focus on the language of the statement and “ if the reference to ‘additional hardening’ is changed ”, estimated Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management. Markets expect the central bank to declare a pause in the credit crunch.

Bond yields fell, with that on ten-year US Treasury bills standing at 3.48% from 3.56% the previous day.

On the political front, the showdown between Republicans and the Biden administration over the debt ceiling has tensed the atmosphere.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sounded a new red flag on Monday warning of a risk of US default after June 1. President Joe Biden has invited congressional leaders to a meeting on May 9.

At the micro-economic level, the publication of company results continued. Uber jumped 6.78% around 12 p.m. EST after reporting earnings and guidance that beat expectations on strong demand for its services.

Total bookings made from the ride-hailing app soared 19% in the first quarter and revenue soared 29% to $8.8 billion. Uber cut its operating loss by nearly half.

Its competitor Lyft, which has warned that it will lay off more staff after having already laid off 13% of its workforce at the end of last year, lost at 0.24%.

The Pfizer laboratory remained supported (1.64%) despite a drop in its turnover and profits in the first quarter due to the drop in sales of its vaccine and its anti-COVID-19 pill. However, its results exceeded expectations and forecasts for the year are maintained.

Restaurant Brands International, which oversees Burger King, climbed 0.37% after quarterly results supported by price increases and a return to footfall, as had been the case for McDonald’s and Chipotle last week.

Ford (-0.50%) was to publish its accounts after the close.

Tesla gained 1.74% to $164.65 around 9:50 a.m. (Eastern Time) as the automaker, after dropping prices several times, raised others on certain models in Canada, China, in Japan and the United States.

Chegg, a successful education platform during the pandemic, plummeted 46% as the company lamented competition from artificial intelligence program ChatGPT, with students turning to the OpenAI tool to do their homework.

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