New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended Thursday in dispersed order after a day spent clearly in the red, torn between fear of the Delta variant and better US indicators.

According to final results, the Dow Jones index lost 0.18% to 34,751.32 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloring, rose 0.13% to 15,181.92 points.

The extended S&P 500 index dropped 0.15% to 4,473.75 points.

"It was an interesting session," commented Art Hogan of National Securities Corporation sarcastically as the indices widened their losses during the day, despite a favorable consumer indicator in the United States, before regaining most of the lost ground. shortly before closing.

"We ended the day neither at the highest nor at the lowest: it indicates that we are in a sort of tug-of-war right now," the analyst continued.

"Should we believe the concern that grips us about the slowdown caused by Covid-19, or should we believe the data which has shown us over the past two days a definite improvement in economic activity which could translate into by better company profits in the second half of the year? "asked Hogan.

This trajectory into negative territory for the main indices continued for most of the session despite better than expected retail sales in August in the United States.

These rose 0.7% as analysts predicted a corresponding drop.

Another positive indicator, manufacturing activity in the highly industrial area of ​​Philadelphia accelerated in September to the surprise of analysts.

The index gained 11 points to climb to 30.7 points, more than forecasts which expected a stable index.

As for weekly jobless claims, if they started to rise again at the beginning of September, it is mainly because of a catching up of unfulfilled registrations at the end of August because of Hurricane Ida which had hit Louisiana.

The volatility of the market was also explained by the fact that we were on the eve of a so-called "four witches" session, which saw expirations of options contracts and repositionings causing unusual movements.

"It is not uncommon to see atypical activity during a week marked by expiry of options," said Art Hogan.

On the stock chart, Timken, a world leader in bearings and transmission parts, fell 3.41% to $ 68.02 after revising its sales outlook downward due in part to supply issues.

Express carrier Fedex posted a rise of 0.70% to $ 258.38 after announcing it was hiring 90,000 seasonal workers for the holiday season, a figure well above previous years.

Food delivery man DoorDash jumped 5.55% to $ 221.50 after support from analysts, enthusiastic about the continuation of a strong home delivery market.

Conversely, Beyond Meat, which offers plant-based alternatives to meat, dropped 2.31% to 108.25 dollars after an unfavorable opinion from analysts.

Shares of data and intelligence analytics group Palantir, chased by individual online investors, climbed 5.72% to $ 28.63.

In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasuries rose to 1.33% from 1.29% the day before.

© 2021 AFP