New York (AFP)

Wall Street hesitated Thursday shortly after the opening, reassured by the strong quarterly results of Microsoft and Tesla released the day before the close but worried about the decline in orders for durable goods in the United States.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 0.23% to 26,773.31 points, around 14:00 GMT.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological color, rose by 0.42% to 8,154.24 points, and the expanded S & P 500 index gained 0.04%, to 3,005.06 points.

The New York Stock Exchange had advanced the day before, helped by the rise in titles of giant Boeing and Caterpillar: the Dow Jones had gained 0.17% and Nasdaq 0.19%.

The computer group Microsoft posted a reassuring health report on Wednesday, reporting strong growth in its cloud business (remote computing services) in the first quarter of its offbeat year. The action of the computer giant rose 1.58%.

Tesla saw its action flare up (+ 16.80%) after posting a surprise profit in the third quarter. CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday he was "fully confident" that the electric vehicle manufacturer will exceed its target of delivering at least 360,000 cars this year.

Other results were published Thursday before the opening of New York: Twitter has reported a profit and a turnover below expectations, citing such computer problems affecting its advertising business. The stock plummeted by almost 18%.

American Airlines saw its title climb by 4.67%, despite subdued quarterly results.

According to Patrick O'Hare, of Briefing, the weekend on Wall Street should continue to be dominated by the earnings season, the New York Stock Exchange is likely to rise in case of positive news.

"However, any progress will not really be meaningful until the S & P 500 is able to exceed its historical record, which is close," says the expert.

Among the indicators, industrial orders for durable goods in the United States fell 1.1% in September after three months of increases, according to Commerce Department figures released Thursday.

This poor performance is another sign of the weakness of the manufacturing sector, weighed down by the trade war between Beijing and Washington.

In the bond market, the 10-year US debt rate stood at 1.742%, down from its previous day's close (1.764%).

© 2019 AFP