The Dow Jones index lost 0.57%, the technology-dominated Nasdaq fell by 0.97%, and the S&P 500 by 0.71% at 3:15 p.m. GMT.

The day before, the indices had attempted a rebound.

In light trading, which amplifies the variations, the Dow Jones gained 1.05% to 33,220.80 points, the Nasdaq jumped 2.59% to 10,478.09 points and the S&P 500 gained 1 .75%, at 3,849.28 points.

The year 2022 promises to be the worst year for the stock market since the financial and real estate crisis of 2008, with the market's fall having been caused mainly by inflation and interest rate hikes by the American central bank (Fed) for fight it.

At the close on Thursday, year-to-date, the Dow Jones ended down 8.58%, the Nasdaq 33.03% and the S&P 500 19.24%.

“The year has clearly been difficult for investors. 2022 started with a Fed that changed its attitude and with the war in Ukraine,” summed up Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.

"Along the way, we've had the highest inflation in four decades, double-digit losses in stocks and bonds, rapidly rising interest rates, continued lockdowns for the world's second-largest economy and a slowdown in the real estate market", listed the analyst.

He tried to remain optimistic for the year 2023 assuring that "historically", it is "rare to have two consecutive years of decline in the markets".

It's happened four times since 1928, including the 1929 crash, the 2002 dot-com bubble burst, and the 2008 housing rout.

For the final session of this nightmarish year for investors and smallholders, there was "little catalytic element to explain the weaknesses of stocks, except that it was the mega-caps of technology which were the leaders yesterday are the red lanterns today," commented Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

Trade remained very light at the end of the year and the agenda of economic indicators was almost empty.

The activity index for the very industrial region of Chicago (PMI) came in a little better than expected at 44.9 (+7.7 points) but remained in the contraction zone in December, which did not not improved the mood of the few traders in the market.

The action of the airline Southwest began to rebound (+ 1.40% at 3:15 p.m. GMT).

After a disastrous Christmas week with more than 15,000 flights canceled in eight days, it promised that its operations were gradually returning to normal.

However, the company's management warned Thursday, according to CNBC, that this episode would "certainly" affect its fourth quarter results.

All of the eleven S&P sectors were in the red, weighed down by communication services (-1.40%) and information technology (-1.30%) which lost ground recovered the day before.

Amazon dropped almost 2%, Apple -1.56%, Meta, Facebook's parent company -1.79%.

The semiconductor sector lost more than 1%, from Nvidia to AMD, while Micron Technology dropped 2.50%;

Ten-year bond rates rose to 3.89% from 3.81% the previous day.

© 2022 AFP