New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange wiped out some of its losses late on Friday, but ended sharply for the second session in a row in a consolidating market after strong increases.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost 0.56% to 28,133.31 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, fell more sharply, dropping 1.27% to 11,313.14 points.

The extended S&P 500 index for its part dropped 0.81% to 3,426.96 points.

The major New York indexes caught up somewhat shortly before the close after plunging more heavily early in the session, with the Dow Jones falling more than 2% and the Nasdaq more than 5%.

Over the week as a whole, the New York place, already weighed down by Thursday's tumble, however lost ground.

"The market was still growing too explosively and we should expect a decline," said Adam Sarhan, founder and boss of 50 Park Investments.

"This is normal and healthy. An even more important decline is even to be anticipated," he adds.

As the day before, several American technological pillars have taken water, like Alphabet, the parent company of Google and Youtube (-2.96%), Facebook (-2.88%) and Microsoft (-1 , 40%).

These stock market giants may have suffered from the fact that many investors chose to sell their stocks, which had soared to new levels in recent weeks.

This decision could be amplified by the prospect of the long weekend in the United States, the main American financial markets being closed Monday because of the Labor Day ("Labor Day").

Several press articles on Friday evoked the role of the Japanese group Softbank, which would have made colossal purchases of options linked to technology stocks during the month of August, thus contributing to the sharp rise in the sector on the stock market.

"If we look at the data, we see that it is not just about Softbank," said Sarhan, who recalls that small carriers have also invested en masse in tech giants in recent weeks.

“A lot of money has gone to an overheating industry,” says the expert.

At the start of Friday's session, the major indices seemed to benefit from a strong monthly report on the employment and unemployment rate from the Department of Labor.

The unemployment rate in the United States fell to 8.4% in August, dropping below 10% for the first time since April and falling far more than expected.

Analysts had expected 9.8%.

In July, unemployment was 10.2%.

In addition, the US economy created 1.4 million jobs in August, in line with expectations.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the US debt rose to 0.7213% around 8:30 p.m. GMT against 0.6347% Thursday evening.

© 2020 AFP