New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Wednesday as tech stocks fell sharply again, as investors question the prospects for the global recovery amid rising Covid-19 cases.

According to final results at the close, the Dow Jones barely found a break even dropping 0.01% to 32,420.06 points.

The technology-intensive Nasdaq fell 2.01% to 12,961.89 points.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.55% to 3,889.14 points.

Bond rates on 10-year Treasury bills eased to 1.60% from 1.62% the day before, without supporting the equity market.

"We're kind of taking a break. There's definitely a rotation going on" between growth tech stocks and more traditional economy stocks, said Chris Low of FHN Financial.

After the fall of the day before, the New York place had started on a more dynamic note, helped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who gave up, under criticism, a drastic containment of the Easter weekend in front of the rise in cases .

But all three indices turned red in the second part of the session after the second hearing before a congressional committee of Central Bank President (Fed) Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

She notably reiterated the fact that the Biden administration was in favor of raising corporate taxes.

Currently at 21%, this tax rate could rise to 28%, according to the election campaign promises of the Democratic president.

"The markets may get nervous about taxes. Ms. Yellen has been talking about taxes for two days," said Gregori Volokhine, manager of the Sustain USA fund at Meeschaert Financial Services.

"When we talk about taxes, there are two aspects which are absolutely negative for the markets: they are the taxes on the companies and the taxes on the gains of the financial capital", noted the expert.

"We realize that the market saw Joe Biden as being a very centrist and moderate Democrat, but by the axis of his spending, he has a more left-wing program," he further noted.

A disappointing index also weighed on investor morale: orders for durable goods in the United States suffered a surprise drop in February (-1.1%), a month that was marked by a wave of extreme weather conditions.

Even Intel, which had skyrocketed early in the session after the announcement the day before that two semiconductor factories would be built for an investment of $ 20 billion, was down 2.27% at the close.

GameStop stock tumbled over 33.79% to $ 120.

The chain of video game stores GameStop, on a roller coaster on the stock market since the beginning of the year, unveiled Tuesday revenues below expectations and remained stingy in details on its strategy.

Thanks to a strong rebound in crude prices, the oil companies have climbed by more than 2% like ExxonMobil or Chevron.

© 2021 AFP