According to final results at the close, the Dow Jones index ended down 0.58% to 35,931.05 points.

The technology-dominated Nasdaq lost 0.33% to 15,921.57 points.

The extended S&P 500 index dropped 0.26% to 4,688.69 points.

"The market has gone into pause mode," said Peter Cardillo, analyst for Spartan Capital Securities.

"It is nothing serious, it is not an interruption of the uptrend, but only a respite which does not indicate that the market has reached a peak", assured the specialist.

"Fears of inflation and a very strong dollar are the two main factors in this pause," he continued.

Signs of inflation could push the US Central Bank (Fed) to advance overnight interest rate hikes, investors fear.

Seven of the eleven sectors of the S&P concluded in the red, weighed down by the energy sector (-1.80%) while crude oil prices plunged by more than 2% on Wednesday, due in particular to the appreciation of the green ticket.

The materials sector also lost 0.58% while the real estate sector advanced 0.71%.

"The markets have also digested divergent data on the side of the real estate sector and the results of the distribution", noted analysts at Schwab.

Among the indicators, new housing starts continued to decline in October (-0.7%).

"Not really good news," said Briefing.com's Patrick O'Hare as real estate construction is slowed by supply shortages and high prices, despite continued strong demand.

But, on the positive side, building permits, a leading indicator of the real estate market, on the other hand rebounded more than expected, showing an increase of 4%, which explained the progress of the sector on the stock market.

In terms of quarterly results, if distributors have done better than expected, such as the giant Walmart (-0.85%) and the DIY chain Home Depot (+ 0.65% after + 5.73% the day before) l Many people have sounded the alarm bells on price increases announced on Tuesday.

Target fell (-4.73%) despite good results announced before the opening.

The department store chain said the rise in costs was greater than what it was passing on to its retail prices.

Visa, a member of the Dow Jones, took the hit (-4.70% to $ 205) after Amazon announced it would stop accepting Visa credit card payments in the UK as of January 19, 2022, in due to the high processing fees charged by Visa.

Tesla continued to advance (+ 3.25% to 1,089 dollars), as the day before despite the announcements of sales of blocks of shares in recent days by CEO Elon Musk.

The hot Tesla boss has sold around $ 7.8 billion worth of securities in the past week.

Rivian, IPO last week, suffered a very sharp drop (-15.08% to 146 dollars) after defying gravity (+ 15.16% Tuesday).

Lucid, another competitor in electric vehicles, continued to ramp up (+ 5.35%) after announcing at the beginning of the week a 30% increase in reservations since the end of September.

Peloton treadmills and connected bikes, which are going through a difficult phase at the end of the pandemic which had boosted its sales, dropped 6.78% when it announced a forthcoming capital increase.

16-year-old Greek yogurt brand Chobani has filed documents with the SEC for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange by the end of the year.

In the bond market, rates on 10-year Treasury bills fell to 1.59% from 1.63% the day before.

© 2021 AFP