New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange relegated the coronavirus crisis to the background on Thursday to resume its record race, thanks to an encouraging announcement for Sino-American trade relations and indicators of good performance on the state economy -United.

Lindice star of Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gained 0.30% to finish at 29,379.77 points.

The Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, appreciated by 0.67%, to 9,572.15 points, and the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies in the New York market, gained 0.33%, at 3,345.78 points.

All three finished at new levels.

Heckled for several sessions by fears related to the epidemic of Chinese viral pneumonia, the indices of Wall Street have clearly recovered since the beginning of the week.

"The brokers' mindset has turned so quickly and easily is a bit surprising," said Nate Thooft of Manulife Asset Management. "But the trend has been clearly on the rise for some time and investors have already shown their ability to ignore the risks to the economy, whether they are risks linked to elections, to Brexit, or to tensions in the Middle East, "he added.

"Market players no doubt believe that coronavirus is a temporary problem which, at worst, can delay the resumption of growth by one or two quarters," said the specialist.

Brokers were also encouraged on Thursday by an announcement from China, which will cut its tariffs in half on $ 75 billion in US imports starting February 14.

On the same day, Washington is expected to cut its customs surcharges on $ 120 billion worth of Chinese goods by half.

"These are great projects for Valentine's Day, but they do not represent a total surprise since they were provided for in the trade agreement (signed in mid-January) and that China must face up to the coronavirus", remarks Patrick O 'Hare, from Briefing.

Beijing "must find ways to provide some relief to its economy as it faces pressure from travel restrictions, worker shortages and supply chain disruptions," he said.

But "the market probably considers this tariff concession as an encouraging sign for the continuation of the discussions" between Washington and Beijing, advance the expert.

Another encouraging signal on Thursday: productivity in the United States increased by 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019, marking the largest increase in 9 years over the whole year, while weekly requests for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in nine months.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt fell, moving around 9:15 p.m. GMT to 1.642%, against 1.651% on Wednesday at the close.

© 2020 AFP