New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended in loose order on Wednesday, with the market keeping a concerned eye on bond rates while digesting good US indicators and the Fed, which allowed the Dow Jones to set a new record.

According to final results, the index of flagship stocks Dow Jones set a new record by gaining 0.29% to 31,613.02 points.

The Nasdaq, with high technological concentration, dropped 0.58% to 13,965.50 points.

The S&P 500 ended almost breaking even at 3,931.33 points (-0.03%).

The session had started badly for all indices after the rise in bond yields on 10-year bills the day before due to fears of the overheating economy and the risk of inflation.

"The stock market has been more sensitive to yields on bonds over the past week, which is what caused the hiatus over the past two or three days," observed Karl Haeling of LBBW.

Paradoxically, the good indicators of the day, with a sharp increase in retail sales in January (+ 5.3%) and significant progress in industrial production, made investors nervous about the outlook for inflation, which caused pause.

All the more so since the producer price index climbed 1.3% in January when only + 0.5% was expected, signing its largest increase since 2009.

In the second part of the session, the indices reduced their losses and the Dow Jones resumed a positive trajectory after the publication of the minutes of the last monetary meeting of the Fed.

The report reassured investors by showing once again that central bank members were more optimistic about a long-term economic recovery and only saw a possible "temporary" price acceleration.

On Wednesday, 10-year rates, which had climbed to a one-year high the day before at 1.3141%, eased off to 1.2787% around 9:00 p.m. GMT.

Rates on government bonds rise when bonds are oversold because inflation prospects may erode the fixed yields of these securities.

For Karl Haeling, these rates "will probably continue to rise" but he does not "think that ten-year rates of 1.5% or even 2% are a problem for the stock market".

Among the titles of the day, Apple lost 1.76% after Warren Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, said it had reduced its stake in the technology group.

Conversely, the telecommunications group Verizon (+ 5.24%) and the oil group Chevron (+ 3%) benefited from equity investments in the same holding company.

The e-commerce firm Shopify was under pressure (-3.32%) after warning of a slowdown in its growth this year.

© 2021 AFP