New York (AFP)
The New York Stock Exchange started the session down on Wednesday, again affected by rising tensions between China and the United States and worries about economic growth.
The index of Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, declined at 14:00 GMT 0.85% to 25,132.01 points.
The Nasdaq index, with strong technological coloration, lost 0.84%, to 7,543.15 points.
The broad S & P 500 index dropped 0.73% to 2,781.89 points.
Wall Street had already finished in the red on Tuesday under the pressure of these same fears, which are sharply lowering US interest rates: the Dow Jones fell by 0.93% and the Nasdaq by 0.39%.
Investors are increasingly worried about growing friction between Beijing and Washington, which could lead to escalation of tariffs between the world's two largest economies.
Among the latest skirmishes, the Chinese giant telecom Huawei, recently blacklisted by Washington, announced Wednesday to appeal to the US to challenge this decision, while Beijing now openly threat to reduce its exports of rare earth, vital metals for the US industry.
Markets fear that all these clashes will ultimately have a real impact on the economy and business of US companies.
Sign that investors anticipate a slowdown in growth, US interest rates have fallen sharply in recent days.
The reference rate on the bond market, the interest rate on the US 10-year debt, fell again Wednesday to 2.219%, its lowest level since 2017.
Market observers are also disrupted by the three-month and 10-year curve of the recent reverse rates, with the former rising above the second. Such an investment is generally considered a leading indicator of recession. The gap between the two is now the widest since the financial crisis.
In the face of staggering concerns, "the stock market erases some of the gains it had made when investors anticipated that the imminent conclusion of a trade agreement would increase business profits," notes Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.
? 2019 AFP