The Dow Jones fell 0.87%, the Nasdaq index gained 0.05% and the broader S&P 500 index gave up 0.69%.

The session had started in the red, badly guided by the drop on the stock market of Credit Suisse, after the Saudi National Bank indicated that it would not increase its stake in the capital of the Swiss institution.

The Dow Jones, where the financial sector is well represented, was particularly affected and gave up as much as 2.25%.

But Wall Street has recovered after the announcement of discussions between the Swiss authorities and Credit Suisse to find a way out of the crisis of confidence suffered by the bank, already entangled in a series of losses and scandals for several years.

The Swiss central bank (SNB) announced at the end of the day that it was ready to make liquidity available to the Zurich institution "if necessary".

"There are only two big Swiss banks," said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital. "I can't see them letting one of them fail. That's the perception of investors."

On the wire, the Nasdaq index even managed to finish in the green, driven by giant capitalizations such as Alphabet (+2.44%), Microsoft (+1.78%) and Meta (+1.92%).

In addition to their capitalization, the first two benefit from their announcements related to the so-called generative artificial intelligence, while Meta has the wind at its back since its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, unveiled on Tuesday a new plan of 10,000 job cuts.

The Dow Jones remained weighed down by banking stocks Goldman Sachs (-3.09%) and JPMorgan Chase (-4.72%).

"Trading is emotionally sensitive and investors are on high alert and alert to any news about banks, because they are very interconnected," Ablin said.

Already in torment on Monday, the Californian regional US banks First Republic (-21.37%) and PacWest (-12.87%) were again targeted. But some establishments that had been affected at the beginning of the week, such as Western Alliance (+8.30%) or Comerica (+3.06%), managed to continue the rebound started on Tuesday.

"There's this apprehension of one bankruptcy causing another," Ablin said. "But I don't think that's happening, because the quality of the assets is very good and the failures (already occurred) are due to deposits. So it's a very different situation than the financial crisis."

Another drag for the Dow Jones, the oil companies, desperate with the slippage of crude prices, which ended at their lowest closing level since December 2021. Chevron (-4.33%), ExxonMobil (-4.97%) and Occidental Petroleum (-5.63%) were all sanctioned.

Beyond that, the entire commodities sector was deserted, like steelmakers US Steel (-9.65%) and Cleveland-Cliffs (-8.88%), investors fearing a plunge in the economy and demand.

Despite the turbulence in the banking sector, the New York market has managed to limit its losses since Friday.

"I don't think we're dealing with a wave of sales, but there are no buyers," Ablin said.

In a sign of some easing at the end of the session, bond yields recovered. The yield on 2-year US government bonds, the most closely watched currently, stood at 3.87%, after having fallen, earlier, to 3.71%, a six-month low.

© 2023 AFP