New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange rose slightly at the opening on Wednesday, continuing its race for records in a market reassured by the conclusion of a trade agreement between Washington and Beijing and the good performance of the American economy.

Around 2:45 p.m. GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.17% to 28,315.49 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq gained 0.18% to 8,839.33 points, while the broad S&P 500 index gained 0.17% to 3,198.02 points.

Wall Street had finished up for the fifth session in a row on Tuesday, quietly reaching new highs thanks to encouraging American indicators: the Dow Jones had gained 0.11% and the Nasdaq 0.10%.

Wednesday, "the indices continue on the same nonchalant trend as the day before," observe analysts at Briefing.

"The appetite for risk seems to diminish with the approach of the end of year celebrations", especially in the absence of salient economic information, they underline. But at the same time, "even if the stock market is at a record level, investors do not seem to really want to sell because the economic outlook remains favorable," add analysts.

For more frank movements, investors would particularly like to see the details of the compromise negotiated between the Americans and the Chinese, which should theoretically be ratified in early January.

The day will also be marked by a historic vote in the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, which will meet for a debate of at least six hours to lead to the vote of the two articles of impeachment targeting Donald Trump: abuse of power and hinders the smooth running of Congress.

However, "so far, the removal process has had virtually no impact on the market because brokers do not expect the president to be removed from office" by the Senate, said Christopher Low of FHN Financial.

On the bond market, the 10-year Treasury bill rate rose a little, to 1.899% against 1.880% Tuesday at the close.

© 2019 AFP