New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended the month higher, accelerating late Friday in large part thanks to the performance of Apple and Facebook, whose stocks have reached new records.

Its star index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.44% to 26,428.32 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, climbed 1.49% to 10.745.27 points, failing about twenty points from its record reached on July 20.

The broader S&P 500 index gained 0.77% to 3,271.12 points.

Over the month, the Dow Jones rose 2.4%, the Nasdaq 6.8% and the S&P 500 5.5%.

In the aftermath of quarterly results clearly above Wall Street expectations, shares of Apple (+ 10.47%) and Facebook (+ 8.17%) took off to hit a new high.

That of Amazon (+ 3.70%), which doubled its net profit in the second quarter, also increased.

In contrast, Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, fell 3.28% after reporting a year-over-year decline in profits, which still stood at $ 7 billion.

"What is good for these giants is not necessarily good for the rest of the companies," warned Art Hogan, market specialist for National Holdings.

"It is tempting to confuse what the Gafa do with what the market does in general", continues the expert.

In fact, other big names in New York City have displayed a less radiant face by doing their quarterly health check.

This is notably the case of the American oil majors Chevron (-2.70%) and ExxonMobil (+ 0.50%), which both lost billions of dollars between April and June under the effect of the fall in prices. crude oil. Both companies plan to cut costs in the coming months.

In addition, investors waited in vain for the announcement of a compromise between Democrats and Republicans in Congress on a new stimulus plan, supposed to support American businesses and households hit by the consequences of the coronavirus.

The additional assistance of 600 dollars per week paid to the unemployed ends Friday, but no extension or adaptation of this exceptional measure was on the horizon.

According to Art Hogan, "the market could show its frustration" at the stalemate in negotiations.

"If the stock market starts to fall, we could see the political actors of the Capitol showing themselves inclined to collaborate much more quickly", continues the expert.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt fell to 0.5331% around 8:25 pm GMT, against 0.5462% Thursday evening.

© 2020 AFP