New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended higher Monday, consolidating the rebound from last week as the United States extended measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gained 3.19% 22,327.48 points, while the highly technological Nasdaq appreciated by 3.62% to 7,774.15 points and the S&P 500 gained 3.35% to 2,626.65 points.

The Wall Street indices had already registered a strong rise last week, the Dow Jones climbing 17.6% and the Nasdaq by 9.1%.

"Investors may be entering the acceptance phase of the crisis. People know it will last a long time and resign themselves to the idea that, as doctors predict, the situation will probably worsen. a little more before improving, "says JJ Kinahan of TD Ameritrade.

In the meantime, "they seem reassured by the fact that the Federal Reserve and the United States Congress have taken emergency measures to mitigate the economic impact," he added.

After days of breathless negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, Donald Trump has indeed promulgated Friday a historic recovery plan mobilizing 2.200 billion dollars in total.

However, analysts at MRB Research note, "these measures will not be enough to resolve the crisis. To stabilize the situation, the critical elements are medical advances and short-term containment measures".

In this regard, market players have been reassured by the decision announced by the President on Sunday to extend the restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus until the end of April insofar as the United States has not yet experienced its peak of the pandemic.

The pandemic has claimed at least 34,674 lives worldwide since its onset in December in China, according to a balance sheet established by AFP Monday at 19:00 GMT. And more than 757,840 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 184 countries and territories since the start of the epidemic.

Market participants were also comforted on Monday by promising announcements from several large pharmaceutical groups, such as Abbott Laboratories (+ 6.4%) which is working on a coronavirus screening test in five minutes and Johnson & Johnson (+8.01 %) who plans to launch a clinical trial for a vaccine in September.

The sub-index representing the health sector in the S&P 500 jumped 4.7% on Monday.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt rose slightly, and moved towards 8:10 PM GMT at 0.71% against 0.67% on Friday at the close.

© 2020 AFP