Wall Street traded on an indecisive note on Thursday, as the latest indicators on the employment market rekindled fears that the Federal Reserve would refrain from cutting rates in March.

An hour after opening, the Dow Jones managed to gain 0.4% to 37,591 points, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1% to 14,577.1 points.591 points, while the Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.1% to 14,577.1 points.

According to the monthly survey published by ADP, the US private sector generated 164,000 new jobs in December, a figure both above consensus (120,000) and the previous month (103,000).

The Labor Department reported 202,000 new jobless claims in the US in the week to December 25, down 18,000 on the previous week.

From the market's point of view, this solid data - which testifies to the robustness of the job market - reinforces the feeling that Fed rates should remain at their current levels for the time being.

The probability of a 25 basis point rate cut by the central bank has thus fallen to 62% today, compared with 96% at the start of the week, according to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool.

On the bond front, Treasury yields are on the rise again, with the ten-year yield, at 3.99%, once again flirting with the psychological threshold of 4%.

A number of profit warnings also served as a reminder of the difficulties of the current economic climate.

Conagra Brands fell by more than 2% after the food group revised its annual forecasts downwards, citing a "persistently difficult macroeconomic environment".

Mobileye, which specializes in autonomous driving technologies, fell by 23% after issuing a warning on its 2024 results due to high customer inventory levels.

In currencies, the dollar confirmed its recent bout of weakness, with the euro trying to get back in touch with 1.0960, while the oil market paused ahead of the release of crude inventories.

After soaring the previous day, due in particular to disruptions affecting maritime trade in the Panama Canal and the Red Sea, US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) consolidated slightly by 0.1% at $72.4.

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