The Dow Jones index fell 0.42% to 33,286.58 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.50% to 12,720.78 points and the S&P 500 remained stable at 4,192.63 points (+0.02%).

President Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy, his main Republican opponent on the debt ceiling, were to resume negotiations on Monday, after the close of the markets, to try to find a quick agreement and avoid a dangerous default of the United States.

To give the green light to raising the country's debt limit, Republicans want cuts in social spending. An agreement must be reached before June 1, otherwise, for the first time in its history, the United States risks defaulting on the repayment of Treasury bonds.

"The main driver of the market remains these ongoing talks in Washington that will hopefully avoid a default," Oanda's Moya said.

But for Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital, the market "is not really scared by Washington's rhetoric". During a session with low volume, the Dow Jones fell especially weighed down by Chevron (-1.81%) and McDonald's (-2.10%).

The oil group will buy PDC, a crude oil and natural gas producer in Colorado and Texas, for $ 6.3 billion, more than 10% above the share price at the close Friday.

Also a member of the Dow, Nike fell 3.97% while the rating of the title was downgraded by analysts in the wake of the distributor of sports shoes Foot Locker (-8.56%).

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed higher despite the uncertainties in Washington.

"I think investors are focusing more on the Fed's monetary policy," Cardillo said, noting that Neel Kashkari, a voting member of the Monetary Committee and president of the Minneapolis Fed, has hinted that a pause in rate hikes in June is possible.

"It's quite tight between the need to raise rates or pass the round," he said, displaying a more moderate tone than the week before.

It seems that "the idea of a pause is spreading," concluded the analyst of Spartan Capital.

Semiconductor maker Micron Technology fell 2.85 percent as China accused the U.S. group of security deficiencies and called on companies to stop buying its chips. The United States countered expressing its "very serious concerns" about these sales restrictions, according to a State Department spokesman.

Meta gained 1.09% despite a record fine of 1.2 billion euros from the Irish regulator for breaching European data protection rules (GDPR) with its social network Facebook.

Video conferencing specialist Zoom, which ended up 2.94% to $71.41, was still taking more than 5% in electronic trading after the close. The group announced quarterly results slightly above analysts' forecasts.

In the morning a brief episode of fake news caused the clues to stumble for a moment. A fake photograph relayed on Twitter showing an explosion at the Pentagon caused a slight slump in the market for ten minutes.

A Pentagon spokesman denied "the false information".

"There was a drop related to this false information when the machines detected it," said Pat O'Hare of Briefing.com, referring to automated trading software that is programmed to react to social media posts.

But the fact that this dip remained measured in relation to the content of this false information suggests that some had already "considered it muddy", added the analyst interviewed by AFP.

© 2023 AFP