After rising sharply the previous day, the New York Stock Exchange retreated on Thursday morning at the start of a session marked by a series of contrasting economic indicators, including a measure of inflation deemed worrying by some observers.

At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones index was down 0.1% at 43,158.5 points, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3% at 19,448.1 points.

Buoyed by rather reassuring consumer price figures, US equity markets had regained upward momentum yesterday, ending with gains of between 1.7% and 2.5%.

This morning, investors were caught up in inflationary fears following the publication of the latest import price figures.

Although import prices rose by a mere 0.1% month-on-month in December, they rose by 2.2% year-on-year, a level not seen for two years.

These figures were a negative surprise for the markets, which remain on the lookout for any slowdown in inflation to reassure themselves about the prospect of further rate cuts this year.

"The fight against 'sticky' inflation is not over for the Fed", reacted Alexandre Baradez, Head of Market Analysis at IG France.

Another indicator published before the opening was retail sales, which rose by less than expected in December (+0.4%), with fewer purchases of goods for the home, as well as spending in bars and restaurants.

These data suggest that consumption lost some of its positive momentum during the key holiday season, after rising by 0.8% in November.

Investors therefore prefer to remain cautious, an attitude reinforced by the prospect of Donald Trump's inauguration, scheduled for Monday.

The markets, which had initially welcomed Donald Trump's promises to cut taxes and deregulate entire sectors of the economy, seem to want to wait for the new administration's first steps before really positioning themselves.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds continued the downward trend begun the previous day, dipping below the 4.68% threshold, a far cry from the 13-month high of 4.80% recorded the previous day.

Oil prices returned to the red after having benefited significantly the previous day from the sharp fall in US crude inventories last week.

A barrel of US light crude gave up 1.5% to fall back below the $80 mark, to $78.8.

On the value front, the corporate earnings season continued this morning with the publication of quarterly accounts by Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, which were greeted with mixed reviews by the market.

While BofA's share price lost 0.9%, Morgan Stanley's gained 2.2% in the wake of double-digit growth rates in all the New York bank's major business lines.

Publications from health insurer UnitedHealth (-3%) and retailer Target (-3.9%) were also shunned by investors.

Finally, processor manufacturer AMD dropped 0.1% in the wake of a recommendation downgrade by analysts at Wolfe Research, from 'outperform' to 'in-line performance' on the stock.

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