New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended at half mast on Friday, with the main indices losing ground over the whole of a very volatile week, pending a monetary meeting of the US Central Bank (Fed).

According to final results, the Dow Jones index lost 0.48% to 34,584.88 points.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.91% to 15,043.97 points, as did the broader S&P 500 index fell to 4,432.99 points.

Ten of the eleven sectors of the S&P 500 plunged into the red, starting with materials (-2.06%), weighed down by a drop in metal prices, but also utilities (-1.59%) as well. than information technologies (-1.52%) and communication services (-1.27%).

Over the week, the Dow Jones lost 0.07%.

The Nasdaq posted a loss of 0.47% and the S&P 500 0.58%.

US stocks concluded sharply lower "as Wall Street tries to cross a traditionally weak month of September" for investors, stressed analysts at Wells Fargo.

Friday was also known as the "Four Witches" day, which is the combined expiration of futures and call options on stock indexes and individual stocks.

This type of session is typically volatile.

"A confluence of factors continues to cloud the outlook for short-term growth, with lingering concerns over the pandemic, nervousness over the Federal Reserve and supply chain bottlenecks," added the Wells Fargo analysts.

The US Central Bank (Fed) is holding its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday with new economic forecasts in store and perhaps indications on the pace and date of a future reduction in its asset purchases.

Rather favorable US economic data, ranging from retail sales (+ 0.7% in August) to several regional manufacturing indices in shape suggest that the Fed "will stay on track for a reduction in its monetary support this year," said Western Union's Joe Manimbo as the dollar climbed to its highest level in more than three weeks.

The preliminary estimate of consumer confidence for September, according to the University of Michigan survey, did little to reassure investors.

The index was a little below forecasts at 71 points against 72 but slightly improved in August (70.3).

- Vaccine titers unscrew -

Among the values, the manufacturers of anti-Covid 19 vaccines unscrewed shortly before the closing when an advisory committee of the American drug authority FDA decided against a third dose for those 16 and over.

Pfizer dropped 1.30% to 43.89 dollars, its German partner BioNtech gave up 3.61% to 359.18 dollars while Moderna dropped 2.41% to 430.05 dollars.

The steelmaker United States Steel lost 8% to 23.36 dollars despite having announced better prospects and the project of a new production site for 2024, which raised fears of overcapacity of the market, according to analysts.

The processor giant Intel dropped 1.04% to 54.26 dollars, contributing to the decline of the Dow Jones index.

Among the titles of the tech, Facebook, which tries to advance on its project of "stable coin", a digital currency indexed on the dollar which arouses the reluctance of the monetary authorities, lost 2.24% to 364.72 dollars.

As for the giant capitalizations of Wall Street, Apple and Alphabet (Google), they respectively fell 1.83% to 146.06 dollars per title and 2.02% to 2,829.27 dollars.

Both groups bowed to pressure from the Kremlin by suppressing an opposition election app.

In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasuries edged up to 1.36% from 1.33% on Thursday.

© 2021 AFP