New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange traded in loose order on Thursday as bond yields climbed to a 14-month high, despite the Fed's dovish speech the day before.

Around 2:15 p.m. GMT, the Nasdaq, which concentrates technology stocks sensitive to fears of inflation and tightening financial conditions, fell 1.71% to 13.293.97 points.

The S&P 500 lost ground after its record, losing 0.72% to 3,945.63 points.

The Dow Jones index climbed 0.06% to 33,034.61 points, after reaching a record the day before as the Central Bank again assured that it was maintaining its monetary policy of low interest rates to support the economy.

But at the same time, the Fed has sharply raised its forecast for US GDP growth to 6.5% for 2021 with inflation that will temporarily point, it says, to 2.4%.

"Although the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that rates would likely remain intact until 2023, markets weakened early in the session while yields on 10-year Treasuries peak for 14 months," analysts said. by Schwab.

These rates, which influence those of business and real estate loans, exceeded 1.74% Thursday at the opening of Wall Street, a peak since January 2020.

"There are fears that the Fed may lose control of the yield curve and it is information technology stocks and growth-oriented stocks that are under the selling pressure," Schwab added. .

For investors, these tech groups are sensitive to rising rates and inflation because it erodes their future profits and increases their investment needs.

A disappointing employment indicator also caught the market's attention.

Weekly jobless claims have risen, contradicting estimates by analysts who expected a drop as activity restriction measures were relaxed in the country due to a drop in Covid-19 infections.

For the week ended March 13, 770,000 requests were recorded (+45,000) far more than the 710,000 expected by analysts.

At the same time, a sign of a pickup in manufacturing activity this month, the Philadelphia area activity index has accelerated dramatically to its highest level in nearly 50 years. .

The index climbed to 51.8 points in March from 23.1 points in February.

Of the eleven sectors of the S&P 500, only four were in the green, starting with banks which were benefiting from a rising interest rate environment.

The rest fell, including information technologies (-1.60%), the energy sector (-1.21%) and real estate (-0.72%), also sensitive to the rise in rates.

Among the big names in tech, Apple lost more than 2%, Tesla more than 3% and Amazon -1.76%.

Lordstown, which is developing an electric pickup, fell almost 10% after it said it was under SEC investigation following a report by investment firm Hinderburg accusing it of presenting misleading information.

© 2021 AFP