by Diana Mandia
(Reuters) – European stock markets ended in mixed order on Tuesday in a volatile session where caution remained in order awaiting statements from several central bankers, including the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Jerome Powell, in a context of monetary policy uncertainty.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 0.07% at 7,132.35 points. The British Footsie for its part gained 0.36% while the German Dax gave up 0.16%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index ended up 0.09%, the FTSEurofirst 300 posted a gain of 0.13% and the Stoxx 600 0.23%.
Investors are hoping Jerome Powell, who is due to speak at 5:40 p.m. GMT at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, will comment on the latest U.S. economic indicators, including better-than-expected US job creation numbers. United States in January.
The report, which testified to the strength of the US labor market, dampened hopes of a quick end to the Fed’s monetary policy tightening.
ECB member Joachim Nagel told German financial daily Boersen Zeitung on Tuesday that the institution needed further significant interest rate hikes to bring inflation back towards the medium-term target of 2%, while noting that it must proceed in stages given the prevailing uncertainty.
The Governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, also a member of the ECB, said for his part that there was no need to choose between the fight against inflation and the risk of a recession.
A speech by Isabel Schnabel, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, is also scheduled for later in the day.
The latest ECB survey, published on Tuesday, also shows that consumer inflation expectations in the euro zone were revised slightly upwards in December, a sign that fears in this area are struggling to ebb.
VALUES
In business news, quarterly publications led the session, starting with BNP Paribas, which gained 2.6% after raising its targets for 2025 and announcing a share buyback program 5 billion euros this year.
In its wake, the sector index (+1.22%) posted the second best performance of the Stoxx 600.
Elsewhere in Europe, the oil group BP jumped 7.9%, thanks to a record profit of 27.6 billion dollars (25.72 billion euros) in 2022 and a rise of 10% of the dividend paid to shareholders.
The oil and gas compartment (+2.99%) recorded the best sector performance in Europe on Tuesday thanks to the surge in BP and oil prices.
Danish brewer Carlsberg, meanwhile, fell 2.39% after quarterly sales fell short of expectations and a profit forecast for this year fell below last year’s.
Siemens Energy dropped 2.28% after nearly doubling its first-quarter net loss, while Osram plunged 17% for suspending the 2022 dividend payment after results and forecasts deemed disappointing.
AT WALL STREET
The New York Stock Exchange is also moving on a cautious note on Tuesday ahead of the speech by the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) scheduled for the end of the day.
At 6 p.m., the Dow Jones lost 0.21%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 gleaned 0.08% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.36%.
THE INDICATORS OF THE DAY
On the economic statistics side, France’s trade deficit widened to 164 billion euros in 2022, as the European energy crisis caused its imports of gas, oil and electricity to explode, official data from the ministry showed on Tuesday. in charge of foreign trade.
In Germany, industrial production fell 3.1% over one month in December, while analysts polled by Reuters on average expected a drop of 0.7%.
CHANGES
The dollar remained almost stable (+0.05%) against a basket of international currencies after approaching its highest level in a month on Tuesday before the Fed Chairman’s speech.
“The stronger U.S. data clearly challenged market expectations of continued near-term U.S. dollar weakness and an imminent end to the Fed’s rate hike cycle,” said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at MUFG.
The euro, down 0.26%, is trading at $1.0702.
The Australian dollar, for its part, advanced 0.67% to 0.6927 US dollar, after gaining up to 1% in the session following the Australian central bank’s increase in its rates by 25 basis points.
RATE
The return on ten-year Treasuries changes little pending Jerome Powell’s speech. It gains one basis point, to 3.64%.
Its German equivalent of the same maturity gains three basis points, to 2.343%.
OIL
Optimism about a recovery in Chinese demand and supply concerns sparked by the shutdown of a major export terminal in Turkey following the powerful earthquakes that hit the country and Syria on Monday are supporting prices petrol.
Brent rose more than 3% to 83.46 dollars a barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 3.7% to 76.84 dollars.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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