Around 2:15 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones dropped 0.14%, the Nasdaq index, with a strong technological composition, lost 0.18%, and the broader S&P 500 index, 0.15%.

For National Securities' Art Hogan, the face of Tuesday's session, with a lower opening and a rally before the close "says the fierce struggle" between investors who lean for the thesis of a recession and those who believe more of a gradual slowdown.

After a long holiday weekend in the United States, many operators did not return to the market, which is showing low volumes and, as a result, exacerbated volatility.

“The market is at the start of the quarter, in a position of waiting for new data which will determine the monetary policy of the Fed (American central bank) and economic activity in the coming months,” commented Adam Sarhan, of 50 Park. Investments.

Some macroeconomic figures were due on Wednesday, notably the PMI and ISM indicators of activity in the services sector in the United States in June.

Wall Street will also follow the publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the monetary committee of the Federal Reserve.

"It's hard to imagine anything pushing the machine one way or the other," warned Art Hogan, who expects no surprises from the Fed's minutes.

"It looks like until the jobs report on Friday, the "tough fight" between investors on both sides will continue, he said.

The hypothesis of a less firm Fed in its monetary tightening has been reinforced in recent days, especially after the correction experienced by the commodity market, which augurs for a slowdown in inflation.

"If the Fed is less aggressive," said Adam Sarhan, "it can lay the groundwork for a rally in equities in the short term, because the market is ripe for a rebound."

After yo-yoing for several days, bond rates stabilized on Wednesday.

The yield curve, which links the different maturities of the market, was inverted, with a 2-year yield higher (2.84%) than the 10-year yield (2.82%) for US government bonds, a phenomenon often considered as harbinger of a recession.

In this context of uncertainty, the so-called defensive stocks, that is to say less sensitive to the economic situation, were sought after, like Coca-Cola (+0.92%), Merck (+1, 55%) or Procter & Gamble (+1.60%).

Conversely, so-called growth stocks, such as Netflix (-2.10%) or PayPal (-1.70%), were shunned.

The DoorDash meal delivery platform (-8.97% to 68.19 dollars) had a hard time with Amazon's stake in the capital of its rival Grubhub, a subsidiary of Just Eat Takeaway.

The manufacturer of electric vehicles Rivian jumped (+ 10.80% to 29.76 dollars) after reporting a 72% increase in production in the second quarter (4,401 vehicles) compared to the first, even if the volumes of the start-up are still modest.

The news penalized its competitors Tesla (-1.46%), Nikola (-0.96%) or Lordstown (-1.17%).

Chinese stocks were at half mast after the recontainment of several million people in China on Wednesday due to an epidemic rebound.

The online sales platforms Alibaba (-3.48%), JD.com (-5.41%) or Pinduoduo (-8.45%) all posted a marked decline.

© 2022 AFP