NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Investors on the US stock exchanges are waiting for the central bankers’ meeting in Jackson Hole, which begins on Thursday. Although there are some clear price swings in individual US stocks this Wednesday, the most important indices show little change in early business. At the same time, economic data such as incoming orders for durable goods, which fell short of expectations, have hardly any impact on stock market activity.
The Wall Street index Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) oscillated directionlessly between minimal gains and losses in early trading and most recently gained 0.05 percent to 32,924.55 points. The market-wide S&P 500 fell by 0.02 percent to 4128.07 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 fell 0.15 percent to 12,862.58 points.
We are still waiting for new signals on further USmonetary policy. Investors are hoping that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole on Friday may include those. At the same time, it is still expected that the Federal Reserve will maintain its strict tightening course in order to get the high inflation under control. The only puzzling question is the rate hike in September: will it be 0.5 percentage points or 0.75 percentage points.
“The fact is that Jackson Hole has occasionally been used in the past as a platform to send clear messages to the markets that were not always the ones expected,” recalls broker Oanda analyst Craig Erlam. “It’s interesting that fear of what might be said seems to be affecting sentiment and markets much more than what’s actually been said over the past few weeks.”/ck/he