PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are trending upwards on Friday morning, supported by the lull in bond markets and the rise in growth stocks in the wake of the Nasdaq closing the day before.
In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.95% to 8,099.87 points around 07:20 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 advanced by 0.80% and in Frankfurt, the Dax increased by 0.93%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index increased by 1.03%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.87% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.93%.
Futures contracts on Wall Street forecast an increase of 0.18% for the Dow Jones, 0.07% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.03% for the Nasdaq the day after a session in scattered order where this last index ended with a gain of 1.68%.
Despite the strength of the American economy, investors continue to cling to the scenario of a reduction in key rates, the European Central Bank (ECB) having opened the way on Thursday to monetary easing this year, ensuring that it is independent of this what the American Federal Reserve (Fed) will do.
In the United Kingdom, where the economy slowed to 0.1% in February, Goldman Sachs said on Friday it was counting on four rate cuts from the Bank of England (BoE) this year, compared to a forecast of five reductions previously.
In the United States, if expectations of the first rate cut by the Fed were postponed to September, Thursday’s publication of the producer price index (PPI) for the month of March came out weaker than expected, reassured the market a little about the evolution of inflation.
Furthermore, the quarterly publications this Friday from the major American banks will open the results season, relegating macroeconomic indicators to the background.
On the stock market in Europe, the positive trend is driven by the new technologies sector (+1.74%) while the yield on the ten-year German Bund fell by around two basis points, to 2.417%, after having gained five Thursday. STMicroelectronics (+1.09%), Infineon (+1.25%) and ASML (+2.06%) are in the green.
Luxury (+1.02%), considered a growth sector, is also well oriented, notably with Kering (+1.01%), Hermès (+0.78%) and LVMH (+1.03%) .
The basic resources compartment (+1.99%) is also in demand with the surge in the prices of oil and other raw materials against a backdrop of fear in supply.
The banking index gained 0.68% before the results of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.
In business news, Société Générale jumped 3.07% after announcing the sale of two of its subsidiaries in Morocco for 745 million euros.
Thyssenkrupp takes 1.9% after providing details on Thursday on the restructuring program of its steel division, including job cuts.
German battery manufacturer Varta plunges 32.81% after updating its restructuring program.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Sophie Louet)
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