New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply in the red on Tuesday as the hope of reaching a trade agreement came to an end after a new round of negotiations between Washington and Beijing.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, dropped 1.19 percent to 26,164.04 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloration, yielded 1.67%, at 7,823.78 points and the expanded index S & P 500 lost 1.56%, to 2,893.06 points.

US and Chinese representatives are expected to meet from Thursday in Washington to try to break the stalemate of the tariff war.

But the announcement of new sanctions by the administration of Donald Trump against Beijing seems to have showered the hopes of the most optimistic.

To denounce a "campaign of repression" against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, Washington has indeed announced Monday evening to have placed 28 Chinese governmental and commercial organizations on a blacklist. It then imposed on Tuesday "restrictions" for the granting of US visas to officials of the government and the Chinese Communist Party accused of being "responsible" or "accomplices" of this "campaign of repression".

The idea of ​​possibly imposing limits on US investment in China, first mentioned a dozen days ago before the US administration refutes thinking about it, has also returned to the carpet, according to press reports.

"The United States seems to want to continually find new ways to irritate China and push for an agreement," said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management. But "the implementation of such measures just before the resumption of negotiations is not an encouraging sign," he adds.

In addition, "we have seen in the past that the imposition of new sanctions does not work," says the expert.

Also "the market is skeptical about the possibility of reaching any agreement this week," concludes Mr. Cahill.

But, assessed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday, the trade war led by Donald Trump has already cost the global economy about 700 billion dollars.

Investors were also alert Tuesday to an intervention by the president of the US Central Bank, Jerome Powell, who said the institution was considering the purchase of treasury bills to inflate its reserves.

Such a measure would address the recent tensions that have disrupted the markets to which financial institutions turn to finance in the very short term. "The market was expecting it, it was inevitable," says Cahill.

Mr Powell also appeared serene on the economic front, saying that the employment and inflation situation was "positive".

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt declined at 20:20 GMT to 1.532% against 1.558% at the close on Monday.

© 2019 AFP