PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are trading on a generally stable note on Friday morning the day after a close in the red, the context being cautious before the publication of inflation figures in the euro zone and the monthly report on the employment in the United States.
In Paris, the CAC 40 took 0.03% to 6,763.66 around 08:50 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 advanced more clearly, by 0.4%, thanks to values linked to raw materials. In Frankfurt, the Dax fell by 0.19%, weighed down by the automotive sector.
The EuroStoxx 50 index fell 0.04%, while the FTSEurofirst 300 nibbled 0.07% and the Stoxx 600 0.01%.
Futures contracts on the main American indices predict a rebound of 0.12% for the Dow Jones, 0.15% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.04% for the Nasdaq while the indices were penalized the watch by the ADP survey which showed that the private sector had created more jobs than expected in December in the United States.
The official Labor Department report is due out at 1:30 p.m. GMT. The Reuters consensus forecasts 200,000 job creations in December against 263,000 the previous month, an unemployment rate stable at 3.7% and a slowdown in wage growth to 5.0% over one year and 0.4% month on month. .
In the euro zone, the two main statistics expected are the monthly inflation data and the retail sales data, scheduled for 10:00 GMT. Reuters expects inflation to decelerate to 9.7% year on year and retail sales to contract 3.3% year on year in the currency bloc.
In the meantime, retail sales in Germany rose more strongly than expected in November, by 1.1% over one month, but German industrial orders contracted much more sharply than expected, while in France, household consumption expenditure posted a slight increase of 0.5% in November after a drop of 2.7% in October.
On the stock market, the rise on the Stoxx 600 is led by the basic resources compartment (+0.93%) and that of energy (+1.03%), the latter being driven by the drop in crude stocks in the United States last week.
The automotive index, weighed down in particular by Volkswagen (-2.2%) and BMW (-1.89%), shows the largest sectoral decline.
In the results of companies, Sodexo fell by 3.34% despite a turnover in the first quarter of its 2023 financial year that exceeded expectations.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)