Wall Street finished close to balance Thursday after a volatile session, investors digesting US economic data, a new oil spurt and information about the failure of an antiviral’s clinical trial for fight coronavirus.
The leading Wall Street index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.17% to 23,515.26 points.
The highly technological Nasdaq fell 0.01% to 8,494.75 points and the broad S&P 500 index fell 0.05% to 2,797.80 points.
New York indices had started the session up sharply after Labor Department figures showing 4.4 million new jobless claims in the United States last week.
These figures are certainly very high and reflect the scale of the coronavirus crisis, but they are down from the previous week and were close to market expectations.
Among other indicators, sales of new homes in the United States fell in March (-15.4%) as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country, according to Commerce Department data. .
Wall Street had also benefited from the sharp rise in black gold prices with renewed tensions between the United States and Iran and despite the low consumption of black gold.
But the New York Stock Exchange wiped out most of its gains in the afternoon after reports that the American laboratory Gilead Sciences (whose price lost 4.34% Thursday) had failed to deal effectively with patients with COVID-19 in a clinical trial of the antiviral remdesivir.
A summary of the results of this trial was published in error, before being withdrawn, on the World Health Organization (WHO) website, the Financial Times reported.
“The market has understood that there will be no vaccine quickly, but he hopes that we will find treatments” to fight against the coronavirus, says Gregori Volokhine of Meeschaert Financial Services.
“We are at the end of a rebound and it takes a second wind,” added Mr. Volokhine, noting that Wall Street had completed last Friday its second week of consecutive increases.
“This second breath will come from positive news on the end of confinement or positive news in terms of treatment,” said the expert.
On the bond market, the 10-year rate on US Treasuries fell compared to the previous day, standing at 0.5968% against 0.6190% on Wednesday evening.
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