Wall Street closes lower, fears over inflation weigh – archyworldys

by David French and Ambar Warrick

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Wednesday amid investor fears over inflation and supply chain concerns.

The Dow Jones index fell -0.58%, or 211.17 points, to 35,931.05 points.

The larger S & P-500 lost 12.23 points, or -0.26%, to 4,688.67 points.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 52.28 points (-0.33%) to 15,921.57 points.

While the Tuesday release of retail sales showed they grew in October (+ 1.7%) at their highest pace since March despite the price hike, investors feared further price increases could hurt growth and cause the Federal Reserve to tighten policy sooner than expected.

“You’ve had 31-year high inflation, but we have the lowest interest rates we’ve ever had, so these things just aren’t related,” said Salem Abraham, portfolio manager at Abraham. Fortress.

Comments from James Bullard, chairman of the St. Louis branch of the US central bank, and Mary Daly, chairman of that of San Francisco, on Tuesday, also heightened uncertainty in the markets.

“The Fed will hold out as long as it can […]. But if (inflation) continues to rise, and if you continue to see inflationary pressure, then the question arises as to how much and how often (rates) will increase, “said Joe Saluzzi, co-director trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

At stocks, Target was the last major retail group to publish solid results, increasing its annual forecasts and exceeding expectations. The stock fell, however, as margins were affected by supply chain tensions in the third quarter.

Visa weighed on the Dow Jones, with the stock collapsing after Amazon said it would stop accepting cards issued by the operator in the UK due to the high fees charged for transactions.

(French version Camille Raynaud)