PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets, apart from London, consolidated on Friday morning after recent record indices linked to central bank announcements which opened the way to a reduction in their key rates in the coming months.
In Paris, the CAC 40, which reached an unprecedented peak on Thursday at 8,229.25 points, lost 0.24% to 8,160.18 points around 08:45 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.50%, thanks in particular to the insurer Phoenix. In Frankfurt, the Dax, which rose the day before to a historic peak at 18,179.81 points, gained 0.02%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index, which also recorded a record at 5,058.91 points, lost 0.40%. The FTSEurofirst 300 lost 0.08%. The Stoxx 600 declined by 0.03%, the day after its historic high of 510.25 points.
Citigroup on Friday raised its target for the Stoxx 600 index to 540 points at the end of 2024, compared to 510 previously.
Read also…
Futures contracts on Wall Street foreshadow a generally stable opening for the Dow Jones, the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq the day after a record session for the three indexes.
The recent market rally is fueled by announcements from the Fed, which confirmed on Wednesday that it still plans three rate cuts this year, while the Swiss National Bank (SNB) immediately lowered the cost of money. The Central Bank of Norway and the Bank of England (BoE) have hinted at an easing of their monetary policy in the coming months.
BOE Governor Andrew Bailey further said that expectations for rate cuts this year were not “unreasonable”, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
For the last session of the week, for lack of a new catalyst, investors nevertheless seem to opt for profit taking while the monthly indicators of inflation in Europe and the United States will be published next week.
On the stock market, the new technologies compartment, down 0.89% and that of consumption, down 0.72%, are weighing on the trend.
In terms of values, LVMH, at the bottom of the CAC 40, fell 2.39% while the group announced Thursday evening that Antonio Belloni would leave his position as deputy general manager in April. Generally speaking, that’s all the European luxury sector (-0.97%) which is suffering in the wake of the sell-off in growth stocks.
On the upside, the British group Phoenix Group dominates the Stoxx 600 index, with a jump of 8.39%, the insurer having announced that it is targeting 1.4 billion pounds of operating cash flow by 2026.
The Spanish bank Santander gains 0.49% after announcing its intention to return more than six billion euros to its shareholders in 2024.
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
©2024 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.