New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange finished higher on Tuesday, hoping for progress in negotiations in Congress around a new plan to help American businesses and homes hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.62% to 26,828.47 points, following a third consecutive session of increase.

The Nasdaq rose 0.35% to 10,941.17 points, reaching its 30th record of the year.

The extended S&P 500 index gained 0.36% to 3,306.51 points.

"It looks like things are starting to progress in Washington with a view to an agreement on a stimulus package," said Peter Cardillo, head of market strategy at Spartan Capital Securities.

American Republicans and Democrats continued their discussions on Tuesday to find an agreement on new aid for the millions of Americans unemployed because of the Covid-19, but also for struggling businesses and local communities.

House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrats Leader Chuck Schumer spoke in the afternoon with senior White House officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Faced with the impasse in the negotiations, Donald Trump said Monday at the end of the day to consider acting without waiting for Congress, by decree, to prevent evictions of tenants and reduce wage charges.

The big tech stocks, which pulled up the New York Stock Exchange in recent weeks, leading the Nasdaq to new highs, had a mixed session on Tuesday.

Amazon (+ 0.87%), Apple (+ 0.67%) and Netflix (+ 2.21%) gained ground, while Facebook (-0.85%), Google's parent company, Alphabet ( -0.64%) and especially Microsoft (-1.50%) fell.

The title of Microsoft suffered from the confusion around the possible takeover by the computer giant of the social network TikTok, owned by the Chinese group ByteDance.

Initially opposed to an acquisition by an American group and threatening to ban the platform in the United States, Donald Trump finally declared himself in favor of a transaction, but demanded that part of the sum return to the Treasury, ensuring that the latter "made possible" the sale.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt fell to 0.5069% around 8:35 pm GMT against 0.5543% Monday evening.

© 2020 AFP