New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply higher on Wednesday, encouraged by remarks by Donald Trump promising a trade deal with China "earlier than we think."

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gained 0.61% to 26,970.71 points and the Nasdaq, with strong technological color, rose 1.05% to 8,077.38 points.

The broad S & P 500 index gained 0.62% to 2,984.87 points.

The US president's remarks about a future compromise with the Chinese "has reassured the markets and pushed up the indices," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

Certainly the content of Donald Trump's comments on the subject varies from one day to the next - he had Tuesday from the pulpit of the UN General Assembly sharply denounced the "abuses" of Beijing in trade and warned that he would not agree to sign a "bad" agreement with China, conceded the specialist.

But "the truth is that he needs to make progress or we will end up in recession and his presidency will be over," he said.

The stagnation of the 18-month-long trade dispute between Washington and Beijing is undermining the global economy by prolonging uncertainties.

The brokers remain as sensitive, according to Mr. Cardillo, to all the developments surrounding the launch of a dismissal procedure for the tenant of the White House.

"But this is not in itself a problem for the markets, who worry much more about the macroeconomic situation," said the specialist.

Donald Trump had to publish on Wednesday the contents of a telephone conversation in which he asks his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate his rival Joe Biden. An exchange "overwhelming" for the Democrats, but considered "normal" by the two leaders.

The impeachment procedure of the American president is however unlikely to succeed given the current configuration of the Senate, majority Republican.

"The markets have been indifferent to yesterday's announcement by Mrs Pelosi of a procedure for the official dismissal of President Trump, no doubt because it is only a modest escalation," said Chris Low of FTN Financial.

"When the hearings begin, if the congressional Democrats find something that could justify dismissal, it could change," said the expert.

The indices also benefited on Wednesday from the strong growth of Nike (+ 4.16%), which reported an increase in its earnings and its quarterly sales, despite the trade war and the strong dollar.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt rose to 1.730% around 20H20 GMT, against 1.649% at the close of the day before.

© 2019 AFP