New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended Thursday sharply down, the increase in Covid-19 cases in the United States taking precedence over the optimism aroused by the announcement of a future vaccine.

According to provisional results on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.08% to 29,080.17 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, yielded 0.65% to 11,709.59 points.

The extended S&P 500 index dropped 1.00% to 3,537.01 points.

The day before, the Dow Jones had given up 0.08% but the Nasdaq had jumped 2.01% after two sessions of decline and the S&P 500 had advanced 0.77%.

"The optimism that prevailed in the fight against the pandemic now seems to be clashing with concerns that are reappearing in the face of the continued rise in cases of the virus," Schwab analysts summarized.

The United States has recorded about 240,000 deaths to date since the start of the pandemic for more than 10.3 million cases.

They are currently registering more than 100,000 new cases every day, including 200,000 reached on Tuesday.

"The cases of Covid continue to increase at an alarming rate, towards a possible mortality rate of 2,000 per day", also worried Boris Schlossberg of BK Asset Management.

He also stresses that "the medical infrastructure is reaching its limits which could lead the authorities to take restrictions which will further slow down the economy".

At the beginning of the week, Wall Street and the world stock markets had celebrated in euphoria the announcement by the Pfizer and BioNtech laboratories of a future vaccine "90% effective".

The Dow Jones had approached a new record.

On Thursday, the markets clearly reversed the trend, despite rather favorable economic indicators.

Weekly claims for unemployment benefits thus fell to 709,000 (-48,000 compared to the previous week), well below analysts' forecasts.

Consumer prices rose very little in October: the CPI index rose 0.2% on the month and 1.2% year-over-year.

"These data show that the job market is improving and inflation remains under control," commented Spartan Capital chief analyst Peter Cardillo.

"But this new surge of Covid-19 cases could put investors down," he added.

The stocks of the airlines, which had been favored at the beginning of the week with the hope of an next vaccine and a return to normal life, resumed their descent: United Airlines lost 4.31% and American Airlines -2.49%.

Boeing fell 2.98%.

Disney, which announced quarterly losses linked to the closure of its amusement parks, dropped 1.67% during the session but rose in electronic exchanges (+ 5.42%) because the number of its subscribers to its streaming service, Disney +, jumped up.

Even the title of Pfizer Laboratories finished in negative territory (-2.47%).

In the bond market, the yield on US 10-year debt fell sharply to 0.8815% from 0.9753% the day before, as investors again turned to Treasuries.

© 2020 AFP