New York (AFP)

Wall Street closed in a disorganized fashion on Thursday after a disappointing index of US manufacturing activity and on the eve of an expected speech by US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, appreciated 0.19% to 26,252.24 points.

On the contrary, the Nasdaq, with strong technological color, dropped 0.36% to 7,991.39 points and the expanded index S & P 500 fell by 0.05% to 2,922.95 points.

The New York Stock Exchange had started the session in the green, but the nervousness quickly took over, while the markets are showing signs of excitement for several weeks.

For the first time since the 2009 recession, the Markit manufacturing index moved into negative territory, a sign of a sharp contraction in this sector.

In addition, the interest rate curve on 2-year and 10-year US Treasuries had reversed again at market close, a sign often seen as prefiguring a recession in the next 12 to 18 months.

But the market players were mostly waiting for the speech of Jerome Powell, who will speak Friday in Jackson Hole in Wyoming before the elite of central bankers and economists.

The head of the Fed could open the door to further interest rate cuts that the institution he leads has already decreased in late July.

"Investors are waiting for clarification on Powell's earlier comments about a 'mid-cycle adjustment' and hope it will provide guidance for easing monetary policy," commented Charles Schwab analysts.

Powell is particularly facing intense pressure from US President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for even lower rates and has stepped up attacks against the Fed boss in recent weeks.

"Our Federal Reserve is preventing us from doing what we have to do," Trump tweeted on Thursday, adding that Germany is selling "30-year negative return bonds." He accused the Fed of "putting the US at a competitive disadvantage".

US interest rates, which the Fed modestly dropped on July 31 for the first time in more than a decade, are between 2% and 2.25% while US growth is 2.1% (annual rate in the 2nd quarter) while Germany is nearing the recession.

But the president blames the Central Bank for having raised the end of 2018 rates too quickly and caused a strengthening of the dollar which handicaps the United States in the middle of a trade war.

© 2019 AFP