The flagship Wall Street index gained 0.59% to close at 36,799.65 points, while the Nasdaq dropped 1.33% to 15,622.72 points.

The extended S&P 500 index, ended the session at a level close to equilibrium (-0.06%), at 4,793.54 points, not far from its record on Monday.

After having come to terms with a sharp rise in bond rates on Monday, investors began to show some nervousness on Tuesday.

"This puts pressure on the equity markets," commented Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, "particularly on growth stocks, which have been the best performer in recent years."

Higher rates increase the cost of money for developing companies which must invest heavily and therefore make them less attractive.

In the new economy department, platforms, applications and social networks were particularly exposed, such as Shopify (-10.36%), Pinterest (-9.01%) or DoorDash (-6.49% ).

Wall Street has also lost some of its enthusiasm from the day before with the publication of two US indicators less good than expected.

The activity index of the manufacturing sector was posted in December at 58.7 against 60.3 anticipated by economists (a figure above 50 indicates a growth activity).

This is its lowest level since January 2021.

As for job offers, they reached 10.6 million, when analysts predicted 11.1 million.

"The appetite for risk has died down," Oanda analyst Edward Moya observed in a note.

Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin finished spoiling the party by declaring that he had not had a new discussion with the White House on the massive plan of 1.750 billion dollars that President Joe Biden still wants to pass.

The passage of the bill in the Senate cannot be done without the senator from West Virginia, because the upper house has exactly as many elected Republicans as Democrats (50).

The Dow Jones resisted these headwinds, thanks in particular to financial stocks, such as the banks Goldmans Sachs (+ 2.51%) or JPMorgan Chase (3.79%).

Another lung of the flagship index, the oil company Chevron (+ 1.82% to 121.43 dollars), carried by the rise in the price of black gold.

Already sought after Monday, Ford has taken further height (+ 11.67% to 24.31 dollars), after indicating that it would almost double the production of the electric version of its star F-150 pickup, the best-selling vehicle in the United States.

The F-150 Lightning, whose first deliveries are expected in the spring, will be manufactured at 150,000 units per year.

Ford had already raised its target from 40,000 to 80,000 units in September.

Although not having finished the year at the top of vehicles sold in the United States for the first time since 1931, General Motors has nonetheless followed in the footsteps of its competitor Ford (+ 7.67% to 65, 74 dollars).

In 2021, GM therefore had to cede its leadership position to its Japanese competitor Toyota.

© 2022 AFP