The Dow Jones lost 0.55% to 31,145.30 points, the Nasdaq index fell 0.74% to 11,544.90 points, and the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.41% to 3,908. 19 dots.

The Nasdaq recorded its seventh consecutive session of decline, the first for nearly six years (November 2016).

"The market continues to react (to the speech of the president of the American central bank Jerome Powell) two weeks ago", argued Andy Kapyrin, of Regent Atlantic, with the prospect of a continuation of the accelerated monetary tightening, started in spring.

The impression was reinforced by the ISM services activity index in the United States in August, which came out at a much higher level than expected, at 56.9% against 55.5% expected.

“Services continue to grow despite significant pressures” which favor a slowdown, commented the economists of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

For Andy Kapyrin, the ISM index but even more so the monthly US employment report published on Friday suggest that a soft landing for the US economy is still possible, which validates the Federal Reserve's strategy and gives it leeway to raise its rates even further.

Investors now give a 74% probability of a 0.75 percentage point hike in the US central bank's (Fed) key rate at its next meeting on September 21-22.

The trend was confirmed on the bond market, where rates rose.

The yield on US government bonds returned to its highest level since mid-June, at 3.35%, against 3.18% on Friday (Monday was a public holiday in the United States).

The prospect of a higher interest rate environment largely explains the Nasdaq's further decline, as companies in the technology sector have to borrow massively to finance their growth.

Amazon (-1.10%), Alphabet (-1.10%) but even more so semiconductor manufacturers such as AMD (-1.89%) or Intel (-2.75%) were the most affected among the heavyweights the rating.

Wall Street has also been weighed down by the worsening energy crisis in Europe, marked by the postponement of the reopening of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which provides the bulk of Europe's supplies of Russian gas.

In the table of values, the listed vehicle Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), which is to merge with Donald Trump's media group, notably home to the social network Truth Social, fell (-11.44% to 22.13 dollars) when an extraordinary general meeting was held on Tuesday.

DWAC is asking its shareholders to push back the deadline for finalizing the merger by a year, but the announcement of the results was finally pushed back to Thursday.

The pharmacy chain CVS limited its losses (-0.71% to 98.73 dollars), after the announcement of the acquisition of the network of healthcare professionals Signify (+1.15%), specializing in visits to home, for about $8 billion.

The brand is seeking to diversify and increase its care offering.

The management and acquisition companies of land with mining or oil potential Sitio Royalties (-1.55%) and Brigham Minerals (-4.66%) fell after announcing their next merger, which will give birth to a valued group $4.8 billion.

The Bed Bath & Beyond household goods chain, which is going through a difficult time, was battered (-18.42% to 7.04 dollars) after the suicide on Friday of its financial director, Gustavo Arnal, after a black week for the group.

The company will close 150 stores, reduce its workforce by 20% and borrow $500 million.

© 2022 AFP