New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Wednesday hours before Joe Biden was sworn in and officially started his tenure as President of the United States.

Around 10:00 a.m. (3:00 p.m. GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial rose 0.35% to 31,037.92 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, appreciated by 1.26% to 13,362.87 points, moving towards a new record.

The extended S&P 500 index gained 0.70% to 3,825.63 points.

Tuesday, the New York place had progressed after the hearing of Janet Yellen by the American senators.

The future Treasury Secretary had notably pleaded for an ambitious budgetary policy in line with the $ 1.9 trillion emergency plan wanted by Mr. Biden to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

The new tenant of the White House is due to speak at 12 p.m. local (5 p.m. GMT) in Washington during a ceremony in which his predecessor Donald Trump, who left the federal capital for Florida, refused to participate.

“A nomination is a new beginning and a reason to be optimistic,” says JJ Kinahan of TD Ameritrade.

"Combining that with the strong results that investors saw last night and this morning from Netflix and Morgan Stanley, you can see why the markets are starting the day higher."

On Tuesday evening, Netflix (+ 13.41%) 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 American video streaming giant during the pandemic.

On Wednesday before the opening, the American investment bank Morgan Stanley (+ 1.65%) reported sharply higher profits in the 4th quarter of 2020 thanks to the take-off in its business services activities and on the markets despite the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

Member of the Dow Jones, the American group of consumer products Procter & Gamble (-0.34%), which benefits from certain changes in habits linked to the pandemic, revealed quarterly results above expectations and raised its forecasts for the year.

Dow Jones-listed health insurance group UnitedHealth (-0.84%) saw its Q4 profits hit by a pick-up in demand for health services and rising costs for drug tests and treatments for the coronavirus.

© 2021 AFP