New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended in scattered order on Friday, hesitating on which direction to take after mixed US data, lack of progress on a new stimulus package and Sino-US trade uncertainties.

Its star index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.12% to 27,931.02 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, yielded 0.21% to 11,019.30 points.

The S&P 500 fell 0.02% to 3,372.85 points, once again failing to break its February high.

For Karl Haeling of the LBBW bank, the market experienced Friday "a session of consolidation in the heat of summer, in the middle of the holidays."

"The record that the S&P 500 is aiming for acts both as a magnet to pull the index upwards and as a cap that prevents the market from rising further," added Haeling.

At the start of the session, investors took note of the figures for retail sales in the United States in July, released by the Commerce Department.

These increased by 1.2% compared to June, a much slower pace than that of the two previous months and less important than expected.

US consumer confidence changed little in July (+0.3 points), according to the preliminary index from the University of Michigan.

The parliamentary impasse around the new stimulus measures for American communities, businesses and households has continued to weigh on the market, Democrats and Republicans still not being able to find a compromise.

In the second part of the session, several press reports reported a postponement of trade talks scheduled for Saturday between China and the United States to take stock of the agreement signed in January.

No date has been given for this new meeting, which was to take place by interposed video, according to the Bloomberg agency.

The already tense relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent weeks around the origin of the virus, the situation in Hong Kong or the social network TikTok, which Donald Trump accuses of spying for the benefit of Beijing.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt fell to 0.7110% around 8:25 pm GMT against 0.7208% Thursday evening.

© 2020 AFP