New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange was moving slightly lower at the opening on Tuesday despite the results of companies with good performance, hesitating to commit while the indices have recently reached record levels.

The flagship index of the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 0.06% to 28,888.54 points, around 2:55 PM GMT.

The highly technological Nasdaq lost 0.50% to 9,227.66 points, and the broad S&P 500 index fell 0.27% to 3,279.40 points.

Wall Street had ended sharply higher Monday pending the signing of the partial trade agreement between Washington and Beijing and the entry into the thick of the season of the quarterly figures of listed companies: the Dow Jones had appreciated by 0.29 % and the Nasdaq of 1.04% to finish at an unprecedented level.

Before the opening of the amrdi session, the banks JPMorgan Chase (+ 2.09%), Citigroup (+ 1.92%) as well as the airline Delta Air Lines (+ 4.10%) "announced quarterly results exceeding expectations and providing encouraging comments on their business, "said Patrikc O'Hare of Briefing.

Only Wells Fargo bank (-2.82%) was a little disappointed with in particular a net profit halved at 2.9 billion dollars.

Other news was also more likely to fuel investor enthusiasm, O'Hare said, such as the fact that total exports from China jumped 7.6% year-on-year in December, a sign of a revival of the second largest economic power in the world.

Even the indicator on inflation in the United States, which stood at 2.3% in December according to the CPI index published by the Labor Department, was a good omen, said the specialist, because "it does not will not encourage the Federal Reserve to rethink its monetary policy immediately. "

But if the equity market doesn't take off with all of its "good news", "it's probably because good corporate performance has already been incorporated into stock prices," said O'Hare. The ratio comparing the prices of S&P 500 companies to their profits is currently hovering around 18.5, which is 24% higher than its average of the past ten years, he notes.

On the bond market, the rate on the 10-year debt of the United States rose to 1.818%, against 1.846% Monday at the close.

© 2020 AFP