The Dow Jones closed modestly up 0.19% and the broader S&P 500 index up 0.21%, while the Nasdaq stopped almost at equilibrium (-0.01%).

"There was no real conviction in this attempt to rebound," commented in a note, analysts Briefing.com.

Wall Street is weighed down by “weakened technical indicators, a downtrend and reaction to mixed corporate earnings,” they continued.

"And that's not even to mention concerns about future growth."

After a start in the green, the Nasdaq took up 1.70%, before stalling.

"It's a disappointment to see that we can't pull off a decent rebound," said Jack Ablin, head of investment strategy at Cresset Capital.

“People are questioning the advisability of investing in equities when the probability of a recession has increased significantly over the past three or four months,” detailed the analyst.

The hundreds of American companies which have published their figures since the beginning of the week have delivered a mixed picture, with results rather better than expected on average but an often cautious discourse.

Microsoft (+4.81% to 283.22 dollars) has, for example, done better than expected, for turnover and net profit.

The group suffered a slight slowdown, but was able to count on the dynamism of the cloud (remote computing).

On the other hand, it is the disappointment for Alphabet (parent company of Google), sanctioned for having missed the estimates fixed by the analysts on its turnover and its net profit (-3.75% to 2,300.41 dollars).

The Mountain View (California) giant has announced slow growth in advertising revenue, particularly on YouTube, in direct competition with TikTok.

On Wednesday after the stock market, Meta (ex-Facebook) also surprised, but positively, with a higher than expected net profit and above all a stronger than expected number of active Facebook users.

The title, which had dropped 3.32% in session, soared more than 15% in post-closing trading.

Also above expectations, the credit card specialist Visa (+6.47% to 214.11 dollars) saw its turnover increase by 25% over one year and expects continued growth, supported in particular by travel acceleration.

This good publication brought in its wake the competitor Mastercard (+5.07% to 361.57 dollars).

On the dark side, the aircraft manufacturer Boeing (-7.53% to 154.46 dollars) has completely missed expectations, buried under delivery delays, rising costs and exceptional charges related to the war in Ukraine. .

New step back for Twitter (-2.09% to 48.64 dollars), two days after the agreement to take over the platform by Elon Musk.

Spotify suffered the blow (-12.44% to 96.67 dollars) after the publication of a turnover and a growth of its paying subscribers quite significantly lower than expected.

The toymaker Mattel soared (+10.76% to 24.49 dollars) after the Wall Street Journal reported that management had contacted several investment companies, including Apollo Global Management.

After dropping sharply since last week, bond yields rose again on Wednesday.

The yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 2.82%, against 2.72% the day before.

Operators estimate at more than 83% the probability of four rate hikes of half a percentage point each at the next meetings of the American Central Bank (Fed), to curb inflation.

"I don't think the Fed is going to need to raise rates as aggressively as they announced," said Jack Amblin, "because the economy, and demand, is weakening. "

© 2022 AFP