New York (AFP)

Wall Street retreated at the opening on Wednesday, worried about a stalemate in Sino-US trade negotiations.

Its leading index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, yielded 0.23% at 1450 GMT, to 27,868.86 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological color, was down 0.18% to 8,554.98 points.

The broad S & P 500 index lost 0.16% to 3.115.15 points.

The New York Stock Exchange ended in a disorganized fashion on Tuesday, as the Dow Jones was weakened by the decline in the Home Depot title: New York's flagship index fell 0.11% while the Nasdaq won. 0.11% and reached a record.

According to a Wall Street Journal article on Wednesday quoting members of the Trump administration, trade talks between the United States and China are hard to progress and the signing of a "phase 1" agreement before the end of the year is more than uncertain.

On Tuesday, the US president had threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese products even more if Beijing refused to sign the trade deal with Washington.

The Sino-US talks could be made even more difficult after the unanimous adoption by the US Senate Tuesday of a text supporting the "human rights and democracy" in Hong Kong.

Beijing reacted angrily to this adoption, warning that it would take retaliatory measures if the text were to be definitively adopted.

China has also called on Wednesday the acting chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of the United States, William Klein, for "a solemn protest" and "rise" against this text.

"The text must still go through the House of Representatives, then be approved by the President.It is not certain that the President would approve," notes Patrick O'Hare briefing.

"But the possibility that it does generates anxiety about its impact on the signing of a trade agreement with China," the expert adds.

Market participants also expected the publication in the afternoon of the minutes of the monetary meeting of the US Central Bank (Fed) of October 30.

The Fed had decided to lower interest rates for the third time in a row, in an effort to support slowing US growth.

In the bond market, the 10-year US debt rate stood at 1.750%, down from its previous day's closing of 1.783%.

© 2019 AFP