PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets rebounded sharply on Tuesday after their fall the previous day and Wall Street was also moving in the green at mid-term, the equity markets being supported by the hope of an easing of tensions in Europe of the East after the announcement of the return to their bases of part of the Russian troops massed on the border of Ukraine.
Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 1.86% to 6,979.97 points. The British Footsie took 0.77% and the German Dax 1.98%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index advanced by 1.68%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 1.25% and the Stoxx 600 by 1.32%.
The announcement Tuesday by the Russian Ministry of Defense of the return of soldiers to their bases is seen as a first sign of de-escalation in the crisis around Ukraine, even if NATO and Kiev are still demanding proof of this withdrawal. At the same time, Western countries are increasing diplomatic exchanges to find a way out of the conflict, notably with the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Moscow.
Sign of a return to calm on the markets, the dollar, the Swiss franc and the yen, considered safe haven assets are down, while the volatility index, also called “fear index”, fell to 8 .6% in the United States and 10.2% in Europe.
VALUES IN EUROPE
In Europe, apart from oil & gas (-0.8%) and basic resources (-0.4%), affected by profit-taking, all the other compartments of the Stoxx 600 ended in the negative. green.
TotalEnergies fell by 0.2% and BP by 0.8%.
The mining and trading group Glencore (+1.1%) however pulled out of the game thanks to the announcement of the sale of its stake in the Russian Roussneft.
On the CAC 40, luxury stocks ended up sharply: Herms taking 5.3% and LVMH 3.5%. Louis Vuitton, one of LVMH’s flagship brands, also said it would raise its prices around the world on Wednesday in the face of rising production costs.
In the results and forecasts of companies, the publications of Engie (-0.4%), Michelin (-3.4%) and Capgemini (-3%) had to. The tire manufacturer surprised the market by announcing that it wants to increase its expenditure for 2022-2023 to make up for the delay in certain projects due to the pandemic. The IT group has, for its part, warned that the growth of its operating margin this year could be curbed by rising costs.
The energy services specialist Spie took 4.5% after press reports indicating that the group was the target of the activist fund Amber Capital, which holds less than 1% of its capital.
AstraZeneca (+4.5%) benefited from further positive data from its prostate cancer treatment, while Ranstad (+4.5%) was buoyed by better-than-expected quarterly profit.
AT WALL STREET
At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced 1.3%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 1.4% and the Nasdaq 2%
The hope of an easing of tensions in Eastern Europe particularly benefits digital heavyweights like Tesla, Apple and Microsoft which gain from 1.5% to 4.8%, while the air transport sector takes 5, 66%. American Airlines jumped 6.7% and Carnival 6.3%.
Risk appetite is also supporting cryptocurrency specialists such as Hut 8 Mining, Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and Bit Digital, up 6% to 12%.
On the other hand, the oil groups are penalized, the image of Marathon Oil which fell by 2.9%, in the wake of the fall in crude oil prices and the energy compartment (-1.6%), the only sector of the S&P -500 in the red.
THE INDICATORS OF THE DAY
In the United States, producer prices rose more than expected in January, by 1% month-on-month and 9.7% year-on-year, a sign that high inflation could persist for much of of this year..
Manufacturing activity in the New York area, for its part, recorded a less strong rise than expected since the beginning of the month with an index up 3.1% after having passed last month in negative territory for the first times since June 2020.
The economy of the euro zone, for its part, grew by 0.3% in the last quarter of 2021, according to the second estimate published on Tuesday by EuroStat which came out in line with the initial indication.
In Germany, the morale of German investors has improved since the beginning of the month on expectations of an easing of health restrictions with an index of 54.3 in February after 51.7 in January.
CHANGES
In exchange, the dollar lost ground (-0.39%) against a basket of benchmark currencies in reaction to a semblance of easing of tensions between the Western powers and Moscow.
The euro, up 0.49%, took the opportunity to approach the threshold of 1.14 dollars, 1.1364.
The Russian currency, which gained up to 2% in session against the dollar after the announcement of the Russian Minister of Defense, takes more than 0.8% at the close of stock exchanges in Europe.
Among cryptocurrencies, bitcoin is up 3.8% around $44,170, supported by renewed appetite for risky assets.
RATE
On the bond market, the announcement of a possible easing of tensions over the Ukrainian issue is supporting government bond yields.
The ten-year Treasuries rate takes 3.7 basis points to 2.032%.
In Europe, the ten-year German Bund yield ended with a gain of 3.8 basis points, 0.311%, its highest level since November 2018.
That of the OAT in France took 3.2 points, 0.784%, while the yield on ten-year Italian bonds rose for the first time since May 2020 to 2%, before returning to close at 1.976%.
PETROLEUM
On the oil market, prices, which rose Monday to highs since September 2014, are suffering profit taking in anticipation of a drop in tensions over the Ukrainian issue.
The barrel of Brent fell 3.9% to 92.7 dollars, after having touched a peak of 96.7 dollars on Monday, while that of American light crude oil (WTI) dropped 4.2% to 91.3 dollars against a high point of 95 .8 dollars on Monday.
(Report Claude Chendjou, told by Sophie Louet)
by Claude Chendjou