New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Friday, benefiting from a rebound after four consecutive sessions of decline for the Dow Jones.

Around 2:00 p.m. GMT, the flagship Wall Street index thus posted a slight increase of 0.01% to 34,883.83 points, while the Nasdaq gained 0.52% to 15,327.95 points and the S&P 500, 0, 20% at 4,502.10 points.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones fell back below 35,000 points for the first time since August 19.

A wave of cheap buying after this bearish streak was the main explanation for the indexes opening in the green, according to Peter Cardillo, chief economist at investment firm Spartan Capital Securities.

The market could also welcome the announcement by US President Joe Biden of the obligation to vaccinate against the coronavirus for all employees of private companies with more than 100 employees.

"The idea is that this could prevent the economy from slowing further," argued the economist.

The news benefited Moderna (+ 0.11% to 456.27 dollars).

Rocket of the odds since the beginning of the year (+ 334%), the American laboratory continued its progression after having already gained 7.81% Thursday after the announcement of the preparation of a hybrid vaccine, against the coronavirus and the flu.

In the absence of leading indicators in the coming days, the market should continue to move within a tight range, predicts Peter Cardillo.

It has remained on low, or even very low, trade volumes since mid-August.

On the macroeconomic level, the producer price index in the United States reached 8.3% over one year in August, the strongest pace ever recorded since this statistic was published (2010), slightly higher than expected (8.2%).

The news stirred up the bond market, with US 10-year government bond rates instantly climbing from 1.29% to 1.32%.

The Sea group, video game publisher and online commerce platform, was catching its breath (+ 1.11%), but remained down 7% since Tuesday.

The Singaporean company, listed on Wall Street and which counts the Chinese Tencent as a reference shareholder, announced Thursday the raising of some 6.3 billion dollars in the form of stocks and bonds.

The financial company Affirm, specialist in online credit purchases, soared at the start of the session (+ 22.62% to 112.88 dollars) after the publication of a quarterly turnover above expectations and attractive forecasts for its 2022 fiscal year (from early July to late June 2022).

The group expects revenues to rise from 33% to 36%, without taking into account the recent partnership with Amazon, announced at the end of August.

Payments on credit and in installments, not very popular in online commerce so far, are growing in popularity, which Affirm is enjoying.

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive fell back (-3.02% to 152.28 dollars) after the announcement, Thursday after market close, that the new version of its iconic game Grand Theft Auto would finally be released only March 2022, instead of November 2021 as initially planned.

Sanctioned at the end of August after results and forecasts deemed disappointing, the group of exercise bikes and connected treadmills Peloton continued to recover (+ 6.49% to 114.03 dollars), after the announcement Thursday of the launch from its own line of sportswear, Peloton Apparel.

© 2021 AFP