New York (AFP)

Wall Street retreated at the start of the session on Friday, pulled down by the new downturn in large tech stocks and concerned about the diplomatic escalation between Washington and Beijing

Around 13.55 GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost 0.46% to 26,530.49 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, yielded 1.74% to 10,279.59 points.

The extended S&P 500 index fell 0.72% to 3,212.25 points.

The New York Stock Exchange fell Thursday after figures showing that the number of Americans registered as unemployed had risen again last week and with the decline of the giants of the technology sector: the Dow Jones had given up 1.31% and the Nasdaq 2.29%.

"The US equity market continues this morning its decline from the previous day with growing friction between the United States and China, the Asian giant having ordered the closure of the American consulate in Chengdu", note analysts Charles Schwab.

This Chinese announcement comes three days after Washington's decision to close the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, with the two powers exchanging Cold War-flavored espionage charges.

On Thursday, the head of the American diplomacy Mike Pompeo called on "the free world" to "triumph" over the "new tyranny" embodied according to him by Communist China.

The New York place also continued to suffer from the poor shape of the technological sector, struggling for several sessions.

The manufacturer of micro-processors Intel thus fell by more than 17% after having nevertheless announced Thursday evening of a good second quarter with a turnover and a profit in clear increase.

But the Californian group has also announced a new delay in the production of its latest generation processor, more efficient, pushing back the calendar by 6 months.

More broadly, several analysts justified the recent weakness of the technological giants by readjustments of the portfolio in favor of cyclical stocks, dependent on the economic situation, or of smaller companies.

“This is no guarantee that the market will end up rising, but its losses could be mitigated by such a rotation,” notes Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt rose to 0.5888% from 0.5774% the day before at the close.

© 2020 AFP