New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange rose Thursday at the opening, investors hoping that the endless negotiations on a new stimulus package in the United States find an imminent outcome.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.13% to 28,247.57 points around 2:00 p.m. GMT.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, appreciated by 0.33% to 11,522.66 points and the extended index gained 0.25% to 3,444.07 points.

Wall Street had retreated a little Wednesday at the end of a sawtooth session: the Dow Jones had given up 0.35%, the Nasdaq had lost 0.28% and the S&P had fallen by 0.22%.

Despite the optimistic tone of Republicans and Democrats since the start of the week, "the stock market seems to be growing weary of political maneuvers and worries about having to continue to wait, possibly until the first quarter of 2021" for that new economic aid is voted, advance Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are scheduled to meet again Thursday with a view to a compromise.

The market also awaited the last presidential debate between Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden in the evening, less than two weeks before the November 3 election.

The possibility of a challenge to the results has agitated the New York place in recent weeks.

Investors were also digesting another round of quarterly results, generally positive.

Despite a turnover down 9%, Coca Cola did better than expected between July and September and saw its title, listed on the Dow Jones, up 1.75%.

The American consumer hygiene products group Kimberly-Clark (-6.01%) saw its sales increase slightly thanks to sales of tissues and toilet paper, in high demand during the pandemic, but its profits were disappointing.

In the airline industry, American Airlines (-1.45%) saw its revenues plunge 73% in the third quarter and suffered a loss of $ 2.4 billion.

Southwest (+ 2.84%) also recorded a sharp drop in sales, but did a little better than expected.

Tesla (+ 2.93%), which released its results on Wednesday after the market closed, posted profits for the fifth quarter in a row, ignoring the pandemic and recession.

Among the indicators, weekly jobless claims fell again in the United States, falling much more than expected, two weeks before the presidential election, according to figures released Thursday by the Department of Labor.

Between October 11 and 17, 787,000 people registered as unemployed, while analysts expected 860,000.

© 2020 AFP