New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange was retreating at the opening on Monday, investors are worried by soaring prices for black gold after a drone attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The Wall Street index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost, around 14:00 GMT, 0.27%, to 27,145.70 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological color, yielded 0.20% to 8,160.61 points. The broad S & P 500 index also fell, from 0.20% to 3,001.49 points.

Wall Street had progressed over the whole of last week thanks to a relaxation on the front of the trade war between the United States and China: the Dow Jones had appreciated 1.6% and had recorded Friday its eighth consecutive rise session; the Nasdaq rose 0.9%.

But Monday, the New York quotation began the week down, disrupted by the strikes of the weekend against two Saudi oil sites.

These attacks have seriously affected the kingdom's crude output, pushing up oil prices, and provoking a renewed tension between Washington and Tehran, accused by the United States of being behind the attacks.

"It is possible that the downward trend will increase during the session, but, all other things being equal, this morning's downturn is not major," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.

"The expected rise in the energy sector should help to offset the decline in other sectors such as transport, sensitive to soaring oil prices, and that of finance, which drops with the fall in yields of treasury bills. . "

The oil majors ExxonMobil (+ 2%) and Occidental (+ 7.4%) were indeed showing a clear increase.

Large US banks such as Goldman Sachs (-0.4%), Citigroup (-0.7%) and Morgan Stanley (-0.6%), declined for their part, weighted by the decline in rates on the bond market. The 10-year yield on US debt was 1.856% against 1.896% Friday at the close.

Market participants were also responding to several economic indicators released on Monday.

On the US side, growth in manufacturing activity in the New York area slowed slightly in September, disappointing analysts' expectations, according to the Empire State monthly index.

In China, industrial production slowed sharply in August, its growth rate falling to 4.4% year-on-year, its lowest increase in 17 years, according to official figures.

Investors were also paying attention to the meeting of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Monetary Policy Committee, which starts Wednesday night.

Analysts expect, for the most part, a cut in key rates by 25 basis points (0.25%).

© 2019 AFP