New York (AFP)

At 2:30 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones index was up 0.39%, the Nasdaq was down 0.22% and the S&P 500 was picking up 0.15% after peaking on Thursday.

The day before, the Dow Jones index had concluded close to equilibrium at 35,603.08 points (-0.02%), the Nasdaq, with a high technological concentration, had gained 0.62% to 15,215.70 points and the S&P 500 rose 0.30% to a new record high at 4,549.78 points.

The fall in the title of semiconductor giant Intel (-10.61% to 50.05 dollars) weighed on the technology sector.

The group disappointed investors on Thursday by posting below-expectation sales as the shortage of electronic components continues to plague the chipmaker.

While its net profit soared 60% in one year, to $ 6.8 billion, and its turnover increased by 5%, to $ 19.2 billion, its main activity, that of processors for computers, has saw its revenues decline by 2% in one year, to $ 9.7 billion.

Snap, parent company of the social network Snapchat, also led the Nasdaq (-22.45% to 58.24 dollars) leading the heavyweights Facebook (-4.81% to 325.36 dollars) and Twitter (-2.45% at $ 63.77).

"The social network posted disappointing revenues for its third quarter and forecasts less well for the following quarter," summarized analysts at Schwab.

Snap cites handicaps in the face of changes to Apple's iPhone operating system privacy settings that affect its advertisers and ad revenue.

At this rate, however, the three major indices were on their way to post their third week of gains, all gaining more than 1%.

Overall the corporate earnings season remains very positive, with 84% of companies presenting their accounts so far showing better-than-expected figures.

The companies nevertheless continue "to highlight the bottlenecks in the delivery chain, inflationary pressures and labor shortages," said Schwab analysts.

The specialist in shared offices WeWork, successfully floated on the stock market the day before, climbed again (+ 16.81% to 13.79 dollars), the valuation of the company swelling to 11 billion dollars.

While former President Donald Trump has announced that he wants to launch his own social network, the Nasdaq-listed company (a "Spac") to carry this project was suspended from listing on Friday morning after the title surged by more than 200 %.

In the bond market, rates on ten-year Treasury bills fell to 1.65%.

© 2021 AFP