New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended in scattered order Thursday, torn between the historic drop in the GDP of the United States in the second quarter, synonymous with the official entry into recession, and the good health of the technological giants, which were to publish their quarterly results in end of the day.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost 0.85% to 26,313.65 points, while the Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, rose 0.43% to 10,587.81 points.

The extended S&P 500 index for its part fell by 0.38% to 3,246.22 points.

With a historic drop in its gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly 33% between April and June at an annualized rate, the world's largest economy has officially entered recession, according to a preliminary estimate from the Commerce Department released on Thursday.

Comparing the GDP of the world's leading power compared to the second quarter of 2019, the drop is 9.5%, a record decline but comparable to those of Germany or Hong Kong.

Another indicator that weighed on the market, jobless claims in the United States rose again, with new claims standing at 1.43 million last week and exceeding analysts' expectations, according to Labor Department figures. .

Investors were also briefly worried about a tweet from Donald Trump at the start of the session, which suggested for the first time a possible postponement of the November presidential election, citing risks of fraud linked to the Covid pandemic. 19.

The equity market, on the other hand, was supported by the solid session of Alphabet, the parent company of Google (+ 0.98%), Amazon (+ 0.60%), Facebook (+ 0.52%) and Apple (+ 1.21%), the four American Internet pillars who reported their quarterly health checks after the close.

The bosses of the Gafa were heard on Wednesday for five hours by an American parliamentary committee. Democrat elected officials accused them of restricting competition and harming democracy, while Republicans complained of being censored on these platforms.

In the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt fell to 0.5364% around 8:15 pm GMT, against 0.5471% Wednesday evening.

© 2020 AFP