New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange started the session cautiously, lacking direction for the third day in a row, as the S&P 500 once again tried to break its record while awaiting an indicator on US inflation on Thursday.

At 2:00 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones index was at 0.01%.

The Nasdaq advanced 0.14% and the extended S&P index was slightly below its May 7 record, gaining 0.06%.

The day before, Wall Street had stagnated in a market evolving so close to its records.

The Dow Jones index had lost 0.09% to 34,599.82 points.

The high tech Nasdaq had advanced 0.31% to 13,924.91 points, and the S&P 500 had gleaned 0.02% to 4,227.26 points, a few points off its high reached in early May.

"The S&P 500 is trying another run to highs ahead of the much-anticipated inflation data due out Thursday," Schwab analysts said.

The Consumer Price Index for May (CPI) is due for release by the Labor Department, an important piece ahead of a U.S. Central Bank (Fed) monetary meeting next week and all investors wondering if the hike prices will last or not.

Analysts expect the CPI index to rise 0.4% for the last month, which may appear high by the norm of recent years, but not compared to the 0.8% jump observed. in April.

“Stocks have struggled to break into uncharted territory of late as markets grapple with signs of warming economic activity and inflationary pressures that have brought the issue of cutting back buying back to the table. 'Fed assets,' one added at Schwab.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries fell sharply to 1.48%, their lowest since early March.

The frenzy around a few favorite stocks of online stock marketers continued to animate the market.

The online healthcare provider Clover Health, which had soared by 85% the day before thanks to the enthusiasm of internet users-investors very active on a forum on the Reddit site, was highly volatile on Wednesday: after having jumped at the opening, the The stock lost more than 7% around 2:30 p.m. GMT.

New darling of online traders, the online discount distribution site Wish (Contextlogic) also fluctuated strongly, gaining more than 20% at the opening before plunging into the red.

The title of the chain of cinemas AMC fell by 8%.

© 2021 AFP