Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange
(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply lower on Wednesday as the tighter-than-expected outcome of the midterm elections and the uncertainties it brings left investors on the sidelines.
The trend is also penalized by the fears still alive on the inflation front, the latest figures of which will be known on Thursday.
The Dow Jones index fell 1.95%, or -646.89 points, to 32,513.94 points. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 79.54 points, or 2.08% to 3,748.57 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part by -263.02 points (2.48%) to 10,353.175.
“It’s all this uncertainty that the markets don’t like, with many votes still unsettled,” said Sam Stovall of CFRA Research in New York. “It is unclear who will have the majority in the Senate.”
In values, Disney plunged -13.14% after announcing that it had suffered further losses attributable to Disney Plus, its video-on-demand service.
On the oil market, WTI stood at $85.58 (-3.73%) and Brent at $92.41 (-3.08%).
The dollar was up 0.76% against a basket of currencies a few minutes after the close of Wall Street, while the euro stood at 1.0008 dollars (-0.64%).
On the bond market, ten-year paper [US10YT=RR] fell 4.8 basis points to settle at 4.0798%. His five-year-old counterpart [US10YT=RR]fell 7.2 basis points to 4.2356%.
(Nicolas Delame)