New York (AFP)

Wall Street was on a break Tuesday for the last session of the month, the three indices opening modestly in the red, after records the day before in favor of the technology sector.

Around 2:00 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones index dropped 0.14%, as the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dropped 0.13%.

On Monday, the Nasdaq, where technology stocks are concentrated, broke a new record at 15,265.89 points (+ 0.90%) as did the extended S&P 500 index at 4,528.79 points (+ 0.43%) .

The Dow Jones index of flagship stocks fell a little to 35,399.84 points (-0.16%).

The month of August, traditionally considered one of the worst months for investors, should end this year on a positive note.

At the close on Monday, the Dow Jones had gained 1.33% in one month, the Nasdaq climbed 4% and the S&P 500 by 3%.

On Tuesday, "the market lacked conviction as investors digest the departure of the last troops from Afghanistan, the slowdown in China's manufacturing sector, and the fact that several elected Democrats wrote a letter to President Biden demanding that he replace Jerome Powell ", head of the Fed, said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

Investors were also challenged by the acceleration of inflation in the euro zone which jumped to 3%, its highest level in ten years.

If the European Central Bank (ECB) does not consider, at this stage, to tighten its accommodating monetary policy, it is holding its Governing Council on September 9 and there will be debate, in particular on asset purchases.

One of the council members, the Austrian Robert Holzmann, pleaded Tuesday for a reduction in bond purchases by the ECB, in an interview with Bloomberg News.

Among the indicators, the highly anticipated consumer confidence index by the Conference Board for August was to be published in the middle of the morning.

Analysts expect consumer confidence to drop to 123 points from 129.1 in July.

On the stock chart, the Zoom videoconferencing platform plunged 16.88% to 288 dollars after disappointing results.

The app, which has taken full advantage of the boom in telecommuting and homeschooling since the start of the pandemic, saw its growth rate slow down drastically in Q2, even though it remains at 54% .

Even though it has come down from a peak in October 2020, the action was still worth three times as much at the close on Monday as in early March 2020, at the start of the large-scale spread of Covid-19 in the United States.

The title of Moderna laboratories climbed 2% to 378 dollars after the publication of a Belgian study indicating that its vaccine produces more antibodies than its rival Pfizer.

Yields on 10-year bonds were virtually flat at 1.2869% versus 1.2785%.

© 2021 AFP