Wall Street is showing signs of heaviness on Wednesday, in the wake of robust economic indicators raising fears that the Fed may give up on cutting interest rates too soon.

At the very end of the morning, the Dow Jones limited its decline, giving up 0.1% to 37,349.3 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped a more marked 0.9% to 14,803.8 points.349.3 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped a more marked 0.9% to 14,803.8 points.

Retail sales in the US continued to post solid gains in December, reinforcing the scenario of still robust economic growth at the end of 2023.

The Commerce Department announced this morning that retail sales rose by 0.6% last month, whereas economists were expecting a rise of only 0.4%.

Another statistic illustrating the robustness of activity, industrial production posted a surprise rise of 0.1% in December, buoyed by good performance in consumer goods manufacturing.

Following these indicators, the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut by the Fed at the end of its March meeting is now estimated at only 54.7%, compared with 64.7% a week ago, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

Expectations of imminent monetary easing had already been undermined yesterday by comments from Fed Board member Christopher Waller to the effect that the fact that inflation was tending towards the 2% target should not precipitate any rate cuts.

With indicators suggesting that the Fed may postpone its first rate cuts, the yield on 10-year US government bonds is logically back on the rise, above 4.10%, an almost one-month high.

Following this news, the dollar is also continuing its recovery, with the euro continuing to retreat, breaking through the 1.0860 threshold against the greenback.

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