New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange rose at the opening Monday, supported by the deployment of an anti-Covid vaccine in the United States and the hope of the imminent adoption of a new plan to support the economy.

At 2:50 p.m. GMT, the flagship Dow Jones index gained 0.78% to 30,289.90 points, the Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, gained 1.01% to 12,503.48 points and the extended S&P 500 index appreciated by 0.85% at 3,694.68 points.

Wall Street ended in disarray on Friday, recording its first weekly decline in three weeks, in the absence of significant progress in negotiations on this stimulus package, which finally advanced into the weekend.

A group of elected Democrats and Republicans is expected to present to the US Congress this Monday, for a vote in the week, a $ 908 billion bill aimed at rapidly injecting new aid to the population and to businesses.

The solution put forward for reaching a quick compromise could be to split the proposal, putting consensual issues on one side and more controversial measures on the other.

Another encouraging news for the markets: the launch of a vast vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in the United States, the country most affected by the pandemic.

A New York nurse was the first person to have received an injection on Monday morning of the product developed by Pfizer (+ 0.28%) and the German biotech BioNTech.

The goal is to vaccinate some 20 million Americans by the end of the year and 100 million by the end of March, which could allow infections to slow down and the economy to gradually return to normal.

The indices were also helped on Monday by a wave of mergers and acquisitions announcements.

The American biotech Alexion (+ 29.89%), specializing in rare diseases, was bought for 39 billion dollars by the British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca.

The American video game giant Electronic Arts (+ 0.90%) has offered 945 million pounds to buy the British group Codemasters.

The software site for vocational training PluralSight (+ 6.14%) was bought for 3.5 billion dollars by the investment company Vista Equity Partners.

Another investment fund, Blackstone (+ 0.05%) announced its intention to spend 3.45 billion to buy the buildings housing research laboratories in Boston from Brookfield Asset Management.

In addition, underlines Patrick O'Hare of Briefing, "the markets know very well that their favorite engine, the Fed, will meet this week its monetary policy committee".

Investors know that the US central bank will take a cautious stance.

"The question is how cautious it will be in its anticipations and in its asset buyback program" when it communicates its decisions Wednesday, notes Mr. O'Hare.

The bond yield on 10-year Treasury bills appreciated to 0.9212% from 0.8964%.

© 2020 AFP