New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange hesitated on the direction to follow shortly after the opening on Tuesday, catching a breath after reaching new records as the results of a trio of major banks were released.

Around 14:15 GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, yielded 0.05% to 27,346.84 points after hovering around the balance early in the session.

The Nasdaq index, with strong technological coloration, yielded 0.11%, at 8.249.02 points.

The broad S & P 500 index dropped 0.09% to 3,011.46 points.

At the end of an indecisive session, Wall Street climbed Monday to unprecedented levels, preparing quietly to get into the thick of the quarterly earnings season of companies: the Dow Jones had gained 0.10% and the Nasdaq 0, 17%.

"Three elements currently guide the market, the perception of monetary policies, the perception of the commercial conflict between China and the United States and the interpretation of the earnings season," says Art Hogan, head of market strategy at National Securities.

"Nothing has changed enough (this morning) to push the indices to new records," he says.

The results of the banks in particular were "better than expected, but not more than usual", remarks the specialist. Not enough in any case to really drag the rest of the market behind them.

JPMorgan Chase, the world's largest asset-based bank, said it had posted record net profit of $ 9.65 billion in the second quarter, edging up 0.21% after fluctuating between gains and losses since then. opening.

Goldman Sachs, which reported better-than-expected numbers in the second quarter despite a continued decline in both fees earned by its investment bankers and traders' revenue, was up 1.78%.

Wells Fargo also posted earnings and revenue ahead of analysts' forecasts, but its share was down 0.25%.

- Google in Trump's viewfinder -

Among the other major results of the day, the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical and Hygiene Group was down 1.57%. Faced with generic competition and legal proceedings, the group has nevertheless revised its annual forecasts up after a second quarter better than expected.

The Domino's Pizza fast food chain was down 4.82% after reporting a slowdown in sales growth in the second quarter.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, took 0.02%. Donald Trump hinted in a tweet Tuesday that his administration would conduct investigations on Google, recently targeted by billionaire Peter Thiel who accuses him of being infiltrated by Chinese intelligence. Charges that the group finds baseless.

The session was also marked Tuesday by the publication of a series of indicators.

In particular, retail sales increased more than expected in June in the country, by 0.4% over one month.

Imported prices were down 2%, the biggest annual drop in three years.

Inventories of manufacturing and distribution companies in the United States rose slightly in May.

Industrial production in the United States remained unchanged in June (+ 0.0%) compared with May, as a result of a sharp decline in the production of utilities.

In the bond market, the interest rate on US 10-year debt rose a little, to 2.123% against 2.089% the day before closing.

© 2019 AFP