New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange retreated slightly on Monday, weighed down by disappointing European indicators and lack of substantial progress in Sino-US trade talks.

The leading index of New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost 0.16% to 26,891.07 points, around 13:45 GMT.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloration, yielded 0.05%, to 8133.91 points, and the expanded S & P 500 index fell by 0.05% to 2,990.56 points.

Wall Street ended the week in the red Friday, weakened by the announcement of Chinese officials canceling a visit to farms in Montana and Nebraska.

Over the week as a whole, the Dow Jones lost 1.04%, the Nasdaq 0.72% and the S & P 500 0.50%, all three indices showing weekly losses for the first time in a month.

Investors then had a lot to digest between attacks on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia which has blazed oil prices, the Federal Reserve lowering, as expected, its rates and before an emergency, intervene in the money market.

Statistics on the US economy were rather encouraging, says Art Hogan of National Holdings.

But "despite this pile of things that can move the market, it's a visit to a Montana farm that finally decided whether the market would end the week up or down," he says. "This reminds us once again that the market reacts primarily to the commercial relationship between the United States and China."

Discussions between Chinese and American negotiators on Thursday and Friday in Washington, before a high-level meeting scheduled for early October in the US capital, were "productive," Friday assured the services of the US Trade Representative's Office ( USTR).

But the outcome of the negotiations remains uncertain.

On Monday, the rating was also affected by "the continued slowdown in euro area indicators, which exacerbates concerns about global growth," say analysts Charles Schwab.

According to the first estimate of Markit's composite PMI, growth in private activity in the euro area slowed in September to reach its lowest level since June 2013.

In the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt was 1.689%, slightly lower than Friday's closing (1.722%).

© 2019 AFP