New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended the session in the green Thursday despite unemployment figures illustrating once again the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic, helped in its rebound by the progression of banks.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gained 1.62% to 23,625.34 points and the Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, took 0.91% to 8,943.72 points.

The S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, appreciated by 1.15% to 2,852.50 points.

Wall Street had however started in sharp decline while the figures on jobless claims released on Thursday again reflected the crisis caused by the pandemic: the United States recorded more than 2.98 million new requests for unemployment benefit the Last week.

In total, nearly 36.5 million people have been unemployed since mid-March.

If demand appears to drop for the sixth week in a row, it "remains at an extraordinarily high level," said Rubeela Farooqi, economist at HFE.

"Workers should be called back as the economy and businesses recover. But the new anti-virus protocols will continue to restrict activity and affect businesses' sales," he warns.

Comments by US President Donald Trump, who threatened on Thursday to sever all ties with the Asian giant and assured that he no longer wanted to speak to his president, also weighed on the trend.

But the indices picked up momentum during the session, helped among other things by oil prices, according to Karl Haeling of LBBW.

The American barrel of WTI listed in New York rose in particular by 9% to return to its highest level since early April.

The indices were also supported by the good performance of the financial sector, the sub-index representing it within the S&P 50 increasing by 2.64%. Bank of America gained 4.02%, JPMorgan Chase 4.20%, Citigroup 3.65% and Wells Fargo 6.79%.

"In general, there is currently a tension on the markets between, on the one hand, the reality of a catastrophic situation for the economy and the idea that the rebound will be longer than expected and, on the other , tremendous support from the government and the US Central Bank, "said the Fed, said Haeling.

Fed President Jerome Powell made an impression on Wednesday by warning that the damage caused by the new coronavirus could have lasting effects on the state of the US economy.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt fell slightly, to 0.6202% against 0.6525% Wednesday evening.

© 2020 AFP