The Dow Jones index climbed 0.50% to 33,869.27 points and the S&P 500 just 0.22% to 4,090.46 points, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq lost 0.61% to 11,718.12 points, depending on final results.

Over the week, the index of star stocks was down only 0.2% but the S&P 500 dropped 1.1% and the Nasdaq 2.4%, their weakest performance of 2023.

"Inflation risks continue to drive up bets on Fed rate hikes," said Edward Moya of Oanda, as bond yields rose sharply in New York on Friday.

Rates on 10-year Treasury bills climbed to 3.74% at 9:15 p.m. GMT against 3.65% the day before, the highest since the start of the year.

This rise in the bond market weighed in particular on technology stocks that are very sensitive to interest rates, which are straining their ability to invest in the future.

The jump in oil prices, which took more than 2% on Friday, after the voluntary production cuts announced by Moscow, "represented a blow to disinflation", further noted the Oanda analyst.

The market will watch Tuesday for the publication of the US consumer price index (CPI) for January.

"Investors fear that Valentine's Day inflation will mean Fed interest rate hikes will continue," Moya said.

The University of Michigan consumer confidence index, slightly better than expected for its first estimate in February (at 66.4 against 64.9 in January and 65 expected) briefly reassured Wall Street in the morning.

The attitude of households "remains mixed", however, noted the economist of the survey, stressing that inflation continues to weigh on consumer morale and that concerns point to employment.

But the barometer is 6% above what it was last year at the same time.

In addition, for Schwab experts, investors have also "navigated through a series of mixed results".

This was the case for Expedia and Lyft, which reported results below expectations.

The travel site's share fell 8.55% after the publication of quarterly sales and results well below forecasts, particularly handicapped by weather conditions and the chaos experienced by American airlines at the end of the year.

But Expedia said demand is rebounding for 2023.

The title of the rental company with driver Lyft collapsed, the capitalization of the company melting by more than a third on the stock market, (-36.44% to 10.31 dollars) after having delivered gloomy forecasts and lost market shares.

Investors were surprised by the contrast with rival Uber, which is more internationally oriented and posted the best quarter in its history but whose stock fell 4.43% to $34.30.

The electronic payment group Paypal (+3.03%) was sought after raising its forecasts for the next quarter on Thursday evening.

The action of the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange platform continued to be shunned by investors (-4.26%).

It had already fallen by more than 14% the day before when the policeman of the American Stock Exchange, the SEC, reproached its rival Kraken for having offered transactions for purchase and sale without recording them.

Kraken agreed to pay $30 million in penalties.

Bitcoin also reacted with concern to these regulatory efforts hovering around its lowest in three weeks (-1.33% to 21,671 dollars at 9:20 p.m. GMT).

© 2023 AFP