by CORENTIN CHAPRON
PARIS (Reuters) – European markets, with the exception of the FTSE, ended down on Tuesday a session marked by the publication of several encouraging indicators, a series of important meetings pushing investors to be cautious.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.3% to 7,932.82 points, while the German Dax fell 0.1% and the British Footsie closed without direction.
The EuroStoxx 50 index ended the session down 0.44%, compared to 0.27% for the FTSEurofirst 300 and 0.27% for the Stoxx 600.
PMI activity indicators in the euro zone animated trade on Tuesday, while activity remains under pressure but shows signs of improvement.
Producer prices also fell markedly in January, encouraging investors to bet that the risks of a resumption of inflation are limited. The European Central Bank regularly invokes this risk to justify its maintenance of a restrictive monetary policy.
In the United States, the ISM services indicator was also weaker than expected, while companies surveyed reported that they continued to restrict hiring, in a context of rising wages.
Several other key meetings this week nevertheless call for caution.
The ECB will meet on Thursday and could reiterate that more data will be needed for a rate cut.
In the United States, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, the speeches of its president, Jerome Powell, before both legislative chambers and a set of employment data will allow investors to refine their economic projections for the United States. .
VALUES
Thales climbed 9.07% and reached a new high after revealing an operating result for 2023 of more than two billion euros, a first since 2019 and the COVID health crisis.
Euroapi fell 8.81%, after Deutsche Bank lowered its recommendation to “sell” from “hold”, the intermediary regretting the lack of details on the update of the group’s strategy last week.
Sandoz fell 4.79% as the Swiss manufacturer of generic drugs and biosimilars announced the resignation of its financial director, Colin Bond.
Traton announced on Tuesday that it expects adjusted operating sales performance for 2024 to be broadly at the same level as the previous year after almost doubling its annual operating profit, which pushed the stock up 7.79%.
Zealand Pharma gained 3.56% after Berenberg initiated coverage of the stock and recommends “buy”.
The utilities sector gained 1.84%, against a backdrop of falling yields in Europe. Verbund rose by 4.11%, Fortum by 3.6% and A2A by 3.82%.
A WALL STREET
Wall Street is falling with very large caps, while investors remain wait-and-see before a burst of data expected this week.
At closing time in Europe, trading on the New York Stock Exchange indicated a drop of 0.84% for the Dow Jones, compared to 1% for the Standard & Poor’s 500, and 1.71% for the Nasdaq Composite. .
RATE
Yields are down sharply after a reassuring American services activity indicator.
At the close of the European interest rate markets, the ten-year Treasury yield lost 7 bp to 4.1486%, compared to 4.6 bp for the two-year rate, to 4.5621%.
The German ten-year yield fell 7 bp to 2.323%.
CHANGES
Bitcoin hit a new record high on Tuesday, driven by investor interest in the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin fell 3.33% to $65,247, after hitting $69,202.
The dollar erodes by 0.05% against a basket of reference currencies, while the euro nibbles 0.05% to 1.0859 dollars. The pound sterling strengthened by 0.13% to $1.2707.
OIL
Crude prices are hesitating, torn between mediocre Chinese economic prospects and restricted demand, after the latest decision by OPEC+ on an extension of its supply restriction policy.
Brent fell by 0.27% to $82.58 per barrel, American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) was stable at $78.71.
(Written by Corentin Chappron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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