New York (AFP)

Wall Street progressed at the opening Wednesday, wishing to believe that a slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus would be confirmed.

Around 2:50 p.m. GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.89% to 22,854.47 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq gained 0.77% to 7,947.79 points, and the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, appreciated by 0.72% to 2,678.49 points .

The New York Stock Exchange had faltered in the last minutes of Tuesday's session, after having spent the whole day in the green: the Dow Jones had lost 0.12% and the Nasdaq 0.33%

"The partial optimism (Wednesday at the opening, note) revolves around the idea that we may have reached a plateau level of cases of contamination in certain homes and that we are moving towards a possible relaxation of measures taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus, "says Patrick O'Hare, of Briefing.

However, caution was advised: while the number of new hospitalizations has stalled in several countries, including Spain and Italy, the most battered in Europe, the United States and the United Kingdom have both recorded a record Covid-19 fatalities Tuesday.

Until the data shows a clear decline in the pandemic, "we expect the markets to remain volatile," writes Art Hogan of National in a note.

On the economic level, the situation also remained shaky, the United States continuing to slow down with millions of Americans unemployed and many closed businesses.

The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it wants to unlock an additional $ 250 billion for US SMEs, which will add to the $ 350 billion already adopted in late March.

"It's great to hear that small businesses are going to get more help," said O'Hare.

"But it also shows the gravity of the situation on the ground, which will not be resolved overnight with more or less optimistic news," warns the expert.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate of the American debt was slightly increasing, standing at 0.7468% against 0.7122% the day before at the close.

© 2020 AFP