New York (AFP)
The New York Stock Exchange ended with no firm direction Wednesday, torn between the contrasting quarterly results of large companies like IBM or Netflix while the investors seemed less worried about the spread of a deadly virus.
Its star index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 0.03% to close at 29,186.27 points while the Nasdaq, with its strong technological coloring, gained 0.14% to finish at 9,383.77 points.
The S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, gained 0.03% to 3,321.75 points.
"The markets had been cold picked (Tuesday) by new information around the spread of the coronavirus in Asia," said Art Hogan of National Holdings. "But (Wednesday) we had more information from the Chinese authorities on how the virus could be contained, which seemed to reassure market players, less nervous about this story", believes there.
In this context, "they focused more directly on business news," he adds. "Even though the indices are nearing breakeven, there has been quite a bit of action in the market."
The IT group IBM, for example, rose 3.39% after reporting an increase in its turnover in the last quarter of 2019, after five consecutive quarters of decline.
The pharmaceutical and hygiene products group Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), however, fell 0.68% after announcing contrasting annual results, due to competition from generics which reduced the sales of its flagship drugs.
The streaming giant Netflix, faced with a host of new competitors the size of Apple and Disney in its main market, fell by 3.58% after being cautious for 2020.
The session was also marked by Tesla (+ 4.09%), which for the first time Wednesday exceeded the symbolic threshold of 100 billion dollars in market capitalization,
On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the American debt fell slightly, moving towards 9:30 p.m. GMT at 1.766% against 1.774% on Tuesday at the close.
© 2020 AFP