The Dow Jones index climbed 0.03% to 31,261.90 points, after spending most of the session deep in the red, in a market still worried about inflation and its impact on corporate margins.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq limited its losses to -0.30% at 11,354.62 points, after losing up to almost 3% during the day.

The S&P 500 finally reached equilibrium (+0.01%) at 3,901.36 points.

This index, the most representative of the American market, crossed the 20% threshold below its January 2022 peak during the session, thus entering the "bear market" or bear market zone.

“A bear market for the S&P generally means slower economic growth, or even a recession next year, as some people suggest,” warned Karl Haeling of LBBW.

The New York indices, shaken for weeks by the repercussions of inflation in the United States and around the world, thus show their seventh week of losses in a row for the Nasdaq and the S&P, a first since 2001, the next day. of the bursting of the internet bubble.

For the Dow Jones, it is an eighth consecutive week of losses that accumulates, a black series not seen since 1923.

"Early gains in the session dissolved to end a volatile week that saw some financial results in the retail sector exacerbate headwinds from inflation," Schwab analysts said.

This week, stocks were dragged into a downward spiral caused by lackluster results and prospects announced by US retail groups.

They warned that rising costs were cutting into their margins and sales and starting to change the way consumers buy.

The latest group to date, the discount ready-to-wear chain Ross Stores, lost more than a fifth of its stock market value (-22.47%) after reporting disappointing sales.

The Target (+1.26%) and Walmart (+0.11%) chains, very heckled this week after similar announcements, regained some strength on Friday.

Karl Haeling, capital markets specialist for the New York branch of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) also pointed out that "a new correlation is being established between the Chinese and American markets".

“All these lockdowns in China and the supply disruptions they are causing are really starting to weigh on the market. That was the theme of the week and maybe will be for the next few months,” he said. affirmed.

The weekly loss of the New York indices reached 2.90% for the Dow Jones, 3.82% for the Nasdaq and 3.04% for the S&P 500.

Six of the eleven S&P sectors ended in positive territory, including health services (+1.26%), real estate (+1.19%) and energy (+0.43%).

The non-essential spending sector fell the most (-1.53%) as US consumers began to tighten their belts against inflation by being more selective in their purchases.

Some big names in tech have picked up very slightly colors like Meta (Facebook, +1.18% to $193.54), Apple (+0.17% to $137.59) or Netflix (+1.56% ) but not Tesla.

The title of the electric car manufacturer dropped 6.42% to 663.90 dollars.

Twitter gained 2.68% to 38.29 dollars while the social network is the target of a purchase offer from Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla.

Shares of agricultural machinery group Deere plunged 14.07% despite an increase in its profit forecast, the manufacturer expecting supply chain worries to penalize its production and deliveries.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bills eased to 2.79% from 2.83% the day before, as bonds attracted investors, pushing their price up and weakening their yield.

© 2022 AFP