New York (AFP)

A wind of optimism blew on Wednesday on the American financial markets, especially on Wall Street, on the occasion of the official assumption of functions of Joe Biden as new president of the United States.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+ 0.83%), Nasdaq (+ 1.97%) and S&P 500 (+ 1.39%) all broke their previous records, which dated back to the 8th. January.

On the oil market, a barrel of US WTI for the month of February rose 0.49% or 26 cents to 53.24 dollars.

The dollar, for its part, remained stable.

With the new American administration, the market is anticipating an ambitious fiscal stimulus plan, as committed by the new Democratic president who wants to urgently release an additional 1.9 trillion dollars to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

These measures, intended to boost consumption and stimulate investment, are viewed favorably by financial circles.

Such a prospect, defended the day before by the future Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, against US senators, had already supported Wall Street on Tuesday.

“Janet Yellen's testimony set a positive tone in the market in two ways,” says Quincy Krosby of Prudential Financial.

"First, she pleaded for a big budget aid package, which the market wants at least initially (...) In addition, she also said that the tax increases, whether for companies or individuals could perhaps wait until the pandemic has calmed down and the economy has strengthened, ”explains Ms. Krosby.

- Netflix leaps -

The New York Stock Exchange, and in particular the Nasdaq index with strong technological coloring, also benefited Wednesday from the insolent form of Netflix, whose title jumped by nearly 17%.

On Tuesday evening, the American online streaming giant revealed that its number of subscribers worldwide had for the first time exceeded 200 million at the end of last year, confirming the rise of the platform during the pandemic.

The group also said it was considering a share buyback, a move that tends to drive up the price of a listed security.

US investment bank Morgan Stanely (-0.20%) and US consumer goods group Procter & Gamble (-1.25%) published Wednesday before the opening of good results, but their actions respective fell.

Health insurance group UnitedHealth (-0.38%) saw its fourth quarter profits affected by a recovery in demand for health services and rising costs related to screening tests and treatments for the coronavirus.

- Concerns -

If Wall Street has been smiling since the start of the year, in line with its meteoric rise that began after the plunge in March 2020, the serenity of the stock market is relative.

Many specialists have been worried for several months about the overvaluation of major stock market indices, which are growing faster than corporate profits, which exposes them to a correction.

The pace of the vaccination campaign in the United States also raises questions as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in the country, which has just exceeded 400,000 deaths from Covid-19.

On the economic front, a rapid recovery in economic activity runs the risk of runaway inflation and, consequently, of rising interest rates in the medium term.

During his last press conference, the President of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Jerome Powell assured that the key rates of the American central bank, which are currently moving in a range between 0% and 0.25%, were not going for the time being not to be relieved.

"But the market is wondering if inflation will not rise at such a rate that the Fed is forced to change its program," warns Quincy Krosby.

© 2021 AFP