The New York Stock Exchange opened cautiously on Wednesday, with the market awaiting an economic report from the U.S. central bank (Fed) which should give a taste of the impact of the Delta variant on activity.
Markets are currently watching for the release of the Fed’s Beige Book at 18:00 GMT, the last report on activity in the world’s largest economy before the central bank’s next meeting on September 21-22.
“There is no doubt that the economy has slowed and the Beige Book should give us some clues as to the negative impact deriving from the Covid virus,” says Patrick O’Hare, analyst at Briefing.com. “Investor hesitation has continued since Tuesday and is certainly fueled by the idea that the stock market is ripe for a period of retrenchment,” he adds.
By 14:00 GMT, the Dow Jones was down 0.05%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.34% and the S&P 500 was down 0.18%.
In stocks, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was losing more than 4% to $256 after receiving a letter from the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC, threatening the company with lawsuits if it launches a cryptocurrency lending offer.
Bitcoin was nevertheless at $46,024 in early European trading on Wednesday after hitting a four-month high above $52,000 on Monday.
U.S. biotech Kadmon, which French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced it was buying for $1.9 billion, was jumping 72 percent to $9.15.
Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds, which had risen sharply the previous day, eased a little to 1.35% from 1.37%. The dollar, a safe haven, advanced against the major currencies, reaching its highest level in a week.
Read also > PARIS STOCK EXCHANGE: CAC 40 UP
Featured photo : © Getty Images
