New York (AFP)

Wall Street climbed sharply Tuesday shortly after opening, hoping to experience a second consecutive session of rise in a market betting on a slowdown in the coronavirus pandemic.

Around 1:45 p.m. GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 3.18% to 23,401.34 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq took 2.40% to 8,103.04 points, and the broad S&P 500 index appreciated 2.86% to 2,739.83 points.

The New York Stock Exchange started the week up sharply on Monday, encouraged by the drop in the number of daily deaths linked to the virus in several European countries last weekend: the Dow Jones had jumped by 7.73% and the Nasdaq by 7.33%.

"The hope that fueled the Monday market persists today," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.

"This hope comes from the idea that the spread of the coronavirus may have reached a plateau level, which allows market players to envisage a more optimistic picture with the reopening of businesses, a restart in spending and a rebound in the economy, "added the expert.

But if the daily death toll hinted at a possible peak of the pandemic in Europe last weekend, the figures started to rise again in Spain on Tuesday, as well as in Italy and France the day before.

In the United States, the death toll has stabilized since Saturday in New York State, epicenter of the pandemic in the country, but containment measures have been extended until April 29.

As for the global and American economic situation, it remained particularly precarious, with many companies continuing to announce closings, layoffs and downgrades to their earnings prospects.

The major oil company ExxonMobil announced on Tuesday that it would reduce its capital spending by 30%, or $ 10 billion in 2020 "due to excess supply and weak demand (in oil, editor's note) linked to the Covid pandemic -19 ".

Its title, however, rose 6% on Wall Street, the company also announced that it wanted to keep cash to pay dividends to its shareholders.

In the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt was up, posting 0.7454% against 0.6698% on Monday at the close.

© 2020 AFP