New York (AFP)

The major indices of the New York Stock Exchange experienced mixed fortunes on Friday in a market again concerned about the rise in the US 10-year bond rate and the risks of inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.90% to 32,778.64 points, finishing at a record high, as did the broader S&P 500 index, which gained 0.10% to 3,943.34 points.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, fell, losing 0.59% to 13,319.87 points.

The index with strong technological coloring of Wall Street suffered from the bad performance of some of its pillars like Amazon, Apple or Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which lost 0.8%.

Facebook fell 2.00%.

“There is an uphill struggle in the market over which way inflation will tip,” says Quincy Krosby of Prudential Financial.

"One group thinks the market is being too assertive about inflation while the other believes that once the stimulus money runs out, the overcapacity of production will support a an economy where there is very little inflation and the 10-year bond yield will decline, perhaps to around 1%, ”adds Ms. Krosby.

Friday afternoon, the 10-year rate on the US debt stood at 1.63% after hitting a high since February 2020 in the morning.

Bond yields rose the day after Joe Biden signed a massive $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package to come to the bedside families and businesses hit by the recession.

Discussions have also started on a bill on infrastructure.

The president of the American Chamber of Commerce estimated Friday that such a text could be approved by Congress by early July.

The market will also closely follow the Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its president, Jerome Powell, has so far assured that he does not intend to raise the Fed's key rates, currently between 0% and 0.25%, until the United States has regained full. employment.

But the surge in bond yields "indicates that inflation could arrive faster than the Fed's agenda suggests," recalls Ms. Krosby.

Among the values ​​of the day, Novavax soared 8.07%.

The US biotech company confirmed Thursday that its Covid-19 vaccine was 96.4% effective against the initial strain of the virus and 86.3% against the British variant.

On the other hand, it acts in a much smaller way against the South African variant.

Boeing climbed 6.82% after announcing an order from U.S. investment firm 777 Partners for 24 737 MAX-8 aircraft.

Among the indicators, US consumer confidence improved more than expected in early March, reaching its highest level in a year, according to the preliminary estimate of the University of Michigan survey released on Friday.

© 2021 AFP