New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange, which had started slightly lower, widened its losses Thursday at the close, at the idea that the Biden administration could tax more the profits of the capital for the richest, according to the press.

According to final results, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, both dropped 0.94% to stand at 33,815.90 points and 13,818.41 points respectively.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.92% to 4,134.98 points.

This is the third losing session of the week for the three major indices.

Exchanges, which were hesitant at the start of the session, accelerated their trajectory in the red at midday after press reports indicating that the US government would consider raising the capital gains tax for the richest. .

According to the New York Times and the Bloomberg agency, earnings from stock market transactions could thus be taxed at a rate of 39.6% instead of the current 20% for people with an annual income above one million dollars.

Asked by AFP, the US Treasury did not comment on the project which could be announced next week, according to media.

Joe Biden had indicated during his election campaign that he wanted to increase the taxes of the richest.

He has already proposed raising the corporate tax rate to fund his $ 2 billion infrastructure plan.

This possibility of raising the tax on financial gains "has been reminded in the markets and now this idea will remain in the air," commented Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.Com.

“Even if we expected it, this is going to become a problem for the market,” said Quincy Krosby of Prudential.

Investors have also kept an eye on the development of the situation in the world with the Covid-19 and its impact on the prospects for a global recovery.

As India continues to sink into a major health crisis with an exponential resurgence of the disease due to a mutation of the virus, this Indian variant has been detected in Belgium on students who have passed through France.

In addition, on the vaccine front, the British authorities have announced that they have identified 168 major cases, including 32 fatalities, of blood clots in the United Kingdom in patients who received the Astrazeneca vaccine.

"There is always the fear that variants will migrate to the United States," commented Quincy Krosby.

"And when vaccines continue to have problems, it negatively affects the market. The market wants to see the introduction of more vaccines and not vaccines withdrawn or suspended," said the analyst.

All eleven sectors of the S&P 500 finished in the red, nearly half of them down more than 1%, including energy, information technology and banking.

Among the actions of the day, the title of American Airlines fell 4.47% after announcing a quarterly loss, however less strong than expected to 1.25 billion dollars on a turnover down 53% compared to at the same time last year, just before the pandemic.

The big names in tech have also faltered, from Tesla (-3.28%) to Amazon (-1.58%) via Facebook (-1.64%) and Google (-1.11%).

The VIX index, which measures volatility on Wall Street, jumped 7%.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries edged down to 1.54% as the European Central Bank (ECB) confirmed it was maintaining its super-accommodative monetary policy.

© 2021 AFP