Wall Street ends in the green, reassured by the announcements of the Fed - France 24

New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended up Thursday a shortened week on the markets, investors welcomed new measures from the Federal Reserve to support the US economy.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 1.22% to 23,719.37 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq gained 0.77% to 8,153.58 points.

The S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, appreciated 1.45% to 2,789.82 points.

Over the week as a whole, the Dow Jones climbed 11.3%, the Nasdaq 10.6% and the S&P 500 12.1%, the latter experiencing its strongest weekly advance since 1974.

Several analysts, however, called for caution in a market that remains fragile and subject to sharp movements in one direction as in the other, according to the developments of the coronavirus pandemic.

"There is no reason to believe that the volatility will dissipate," warns JJ Kinahan of TD Ameritade.

"Market sentiment can change from week to week," said the expert.

At the bedside of the American economy since the start of the coronavirus crisis, the Central Bank of the United States announced Thursday 2.3 trillion dollars in new loans, intended especially for businesses and local communities hit by the pandemic.

In a video intervention for the Brookings Institution in Washington, the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell, wanted to be reassuring, saying that there was a good chance that the economic recovery would be solid in the United States, despite coronavirus shock.

The new Fed measures have reassured the markets and limited the impact of the spike in the number of new unemployment benefit claimants in the United States.

Some 6.6 million new weekly registrations have indeed been recorded, a figure that remains exceptionally high for the third week in a row, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

"The stimulus measures announced by the Fed have weighed more heavily than the unemployment benefits report," said Kinahan.

Like most American financial centers, Wall Street will be closed on Friday for the Easter holidays and will reopen on Monday morning.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt was down, settling at 0.7191% around 20.25 GMT against 0.7722% the day before at the close.

© 2020 AFP