New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange limited losses in the last part of the session Monday, concluding small decline after a more severe start for technology stocks sensitive to inflation fears.

According to final results, the Dow Jones index ended down 0.16% to 34,327.79 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, lost 0.38% to 13.379.05 points and the extended S&P 500 index dropped 0.25% to 4.163.29 points.

"The market was fairly calm but mixed," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

“The banking, energy and metals sectors performed well, but it was technology stocks that pulled the market down,” the analyst added.

The rotation that shifts investors from tech sectors, sensitive to fears of inflation and rising interest rates, to traditional economy stocks, continued to play out during the session.

But "the Fed continued to minimize the risk of inflation," added the expert from Spartan Capital Securities.

The Vice President of the American Central Bank (Fed) Richard Clarida assured Monday that he still expected inflation only temporary, and not sustainable, despite an acceleration in April.

The abrupt end to economic activity in March 2020 "put strong downward pressure on prices, most often transitory", and the recovery "clearly put upward pressure on prices," said Mr. Clarida, during a videoconference.

According to him, "most" of the pressures which drive up prices "are transitory", but it will be necessary "to wait and remain attentive to the data which arrives", he added.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries edged up to 1.6488% at 8:20 pm GMT from 1.6284% at the close the previous day.

Released before the stock market opened, the Empire State index of manufacturing activity in the New York area stalled in May, disappointing analysts.

Despite an increase in new orders, the general business conditions index stood at 24.3 points, down 2 points, while analysts expected growth to 25 points.

The index measuring prices jumped 8.8 points to 83.5 points.

On the corporate side, the announcement of the merger between AT & T's subsidiary, Warner Media (CNN, HBO), and the Discovery group caused the headlines to react.

First up sharply, AT&T finally lost 2.70%.

Discovery, which owns, among other things, the Eurosport channel and a vast catalog of content, momentarily took 17% before the opening, but also fell by 5.05%.

The Disney group, already struggling since Friday, lost 2.08% to 170 dollars and Netflix dropped 0.90%.

Microsoft shares fell 1.20% in a move that affected several big names in the Nasdaq index such as Apple (-0.93%).

Microsoft also received information from the Wall Street Journal affirming that the final departure of Bill Gates in March 2020 would be linked to a relationship deemed "inappropriate" with an employee of the company in the early 2000s.

© 2021 AFP