New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange finished in the green on Wednesday in a market welcoming the US government's decision to invest in a coronavirus vaccine project and awaiting the adoption of new measures to support the economy.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.62% to 27,005.84 points.

The Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, rose 0.24% to 10,706.13 points and the extended S&P 500 index gained 0.57% to 3,276.02 points.

Investors have welcomed an announcement from BioNtech (+ 13.72%) and Pfizer (+ 5.10%) that the US government will pay $ 1.95 billion to obtain 100 million doses of a potential vaccine against the new coronavirus, developed by this German-American alliance.

"The hope that an effective vaccine will be developed sooner than expected is behind the rise in the stock market," notes Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

"But the market is disconnected from reality by anticipating that this vaccine will be available in the near future", tempers Mr. Cardillo.

Market players also hoped that Congress would soon vote on a new budget aid package to support the US economy in the face of the impact of the coronavirus.

According to CNBC, the Republicans are considering extending until December a measure providing for the payment of exceptional additional aid for the unemployed, which expires at the end of the month.

The amount of payments would drop to $ 400 per month.

The New York place stalled early in the session, reacting to the new diplomatic escalation between Washington and Beijing.

The United States on Wednesday ordered China to close its consulate in Houston without giving many details on its motives. Beijing threatened Washington with "retaliation."

The announcement of this decision comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between the two powers on several fronts: controversial law on national security in Hong Kong, accusations of espionage, human rights situation in Xinjiang (north-west) in particular. .

Among the indicators, resales of old homes in the United States started to rise again in June, climbing 20.7% from May, after suffering from containment measures, according to data from the National Federation of Agents US real estate (NAR) released Wednesday.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt fell to 0.5971% around 8:20 pm GMT, against 0.6004% on Tuesday evening.

© 2020 AFP