New York (AFP)
The New York Stock Exchange rose at the opening Wednesday, reassured by an apparent slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus epidemic that appeared in China.
Around 2:50 p.m. GMT, the Wall Street flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, advanced 0.27% to 29,309.92 points.
The highly technological Nasdaq gained 0.74% to 9,805.09 points, and the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, gained 0.48% to 3,386.56 points.
Wall Street had ended in scattered order Tuesday after returning from an extended weekend, when Apple had just officially warned that the health crisis would prevent it from achieving its sales targets: the Dow Jones had given up 0.56 % while the Nasdaq had gained 0.02%, ending in a new record.
The number of coronavirus contaminations in mainland China reached 74,185 people on Wednesday, 1,749 more than the previous day. However, this is the lowest number of additional cases this month.
The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed Wednesday in Cairo the "enormous progress" made in the management of the epidemic of new coronavirus since its appearance in December.
At the same time, "reports that China is considering new measures to support the economy in the face of the consequences of the coronavirus have helped to reverse the mindset of brokers," analysts at Deutsche Bank said. The market evoked particularly Wednesday "direct financial aid or mergers to come to the aid of the air transport industry", they add.
Faced with the epidemic, Beijing had already announced Tuesday an exemption from certain punitive customs duties which it imposed within the framework of its trade war with Washington on certain American products.
Brokers will monitor during the trading session the minutes of the last meeting of the United States central bank.
On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt rose slightly, moving to 1.573%, against 1.561% Tuesday at the close.
© 2020 AFP