by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended down overall on Wednesday and Wall Street was also trading in the red at mid-session, as uncertainty over the withdrawal of some of the Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s borders prompted investors caution investors.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 0.21% at 6,964.98 points. The British Footsie fell by 0.07% and the German Dax by 0.28%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index lost 0.16%. The FTSEurofirst 300, on the other hand, gained 0.02% and the Stoxx 600 0.04%.
While Moscow claims to continue the withdrawal of its soldiers near Ukraine, NATO said Wednesday that satellite images proved the absence of Russian withdrawal.
“There’s what Russia says. And then there’s what Russia does. And we haven’t seen any withdrawal of its forces,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC.
The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine weighs on equity markets, which are all the more cautious as investors await the minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s January monetary policy meeting at 19:00 GMT.
VALUES IN EUROPE
In Europe, about half of the Stoxx 600 sectors ended in the red, like consumer cyclicals and high technologies.
The energy (+1.5%) and raw materials (+1.1%) compartments did well thanks to the rebound in oil and base metal prices. ArcelorMittal, TotalEnergies and BP gained 3.1%, 0.8% and 1.6% respectively.
The telecoms sector (-1.1%) was weighed down by Ericsson’s 12.3% fall after the discovery of accounting irregularities in its activities in Iraq which could be linked to acts of corruption likely to have benefited the armed organization Islamic State.
In corporate results, Air Liquide, which said it was confident about its margin this year despite inflationary pressures, gained 2.6. % The upward revision of the 2025 objectives of the Française des Jeux (FDJ) allowed it to take 2.9%.
AT WALL STREET
At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones fell 0.6%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 also 0.6% and the Nasdaq 1.1%.
The uncertainties around Ukraine are benefiting oil and gas groups such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Diamondback Energy, Callon Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum and Marathon Oil, which are advancing 0.5% to 4%.
Digital heavyweights like Apple, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Tesla fell 1.1% to 3.1%.
ViacomCBS, which announced plans to rebrand itself as Paramount, plunged more than 22% after reporting quarterly earnings that fell short of expectations.
The results of Airbnb (+5.3%), Kraft Heinz (+4.6%) and Devon Energy (+5.5%) are however well received.
THE INDICATORS OF THE DAY
U.S. retail sales rebounded much more than expected in January, the Commerce Department said, which reported a 3.8% rise last month after a 2.5% decline in December. .
US industrial production, up 1.4%, exceeded expectations in January.
In Europe, eurozone industrial production also grew more than expected in December, up 1.2% month-on-month and 1.6% year-on-year.
CHANGES
In foreign exchange, the dollar fell (-0.12%) for the second consecutive session against a basket of reference currencies, moving away from its 10-day moving average, despite the renewed risk aversion. The greenback, however, continues to benefit from short-term upside potential: all participants in the Reuters monthly survey are expecting a hike of at least a quarter point in Federal Reserve rates this month. .
The euro, up 0.18%, is trading at 1.1380 dollars.
RATE
On the bond market, the yield on ten-year US government bonds are almost stable, at 2.0399% before the “minutes” of the Fed.
Credit Suisse, however, sees the 10-year Treasuries rate hit 2.7% this year, as the intermediary expects a strong response from the US central bank to fight persistently high inflation. This rate crossed last Thursday, for the first time since August 2019, the 2% threshold after the publication of US inflation figures.
In Europe, the situation around Ukraine weighed on returns. That of the ten-year German Bund contracted by 3.7 points to 0.274% after reaching a session high since December 2018 at 0.331%. Its French equivalent of the same maturity ended down 4.1 points to 0.746%.
OIL
The oil market, which hit seven-year highs on Monday, is changing with the situation around Ukraine. At the close of trading in Europe, the barrel of Brent took 2.7% to 95.8 dollars and that of American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 3% to 94.6 dollars.
The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) also reported a surprise rise in U.S. crude oil inventories last week, but said inventories at the Cushing terminal in Oklahoma, benchmark for U.S. light crude futures fell 1.9 million barrels to 25.8 million barrels, their lowest level since September 2018.
(Report Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)