by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to be in disorganized order on Thursday at the opening, while the European stock markets fall mid-session in a consolidation movement after recent gains and awaiting the publication on Friday of the key report on American employment.
Futures on New York indices signal a Wall Street opening down 0.17% for the Dow Jones, stability (+0.02%) for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and an increase of 0.24% for the Nasdaq.
In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.10% to 7,428.61 points around 11:55 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax, which hit a new record on Wednesday at 16,727.07 points, lost 0.20%. In London, the FTSE lost 0.12%.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell by 0.14% and the eurozone’s EuroStoxx 50 by 0.19%. The Stoxx 600, which reached a four-month high on Wednesday, lost 0.21%. The main pan-European index, however, is heading towards a fourth week in a row in the green.
For Daniela Hathorn, market analyst at Capital.com, it is logical to see a slight correction given the “excessive” prolongation of the market upturn.
“This is by no means a turning point because there is still momentum,” she added, however.
Investors are taking gains ahead of Friday’s release of the U.S. Labor Department’s report on job gains, unemployment and wages for November as the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks meet next week.
In today’s indicators, German industrial production fell 0.4% in October from the previous month, the fifth consecutive monthly decline, while the 0.1% drop in economic activity in the euro zone in the third quarter was confirmed by Eurostat.
These two statistics reinforce fears of a recession in the euro zone.
VALUES TO FOLLOW AT WALL STREET
Cerevel Therapeutics jumped 16.1% in pre-market trading after Wednesday’s announcement of its acquisition by Abbvie for $8.7 billion.
Alphabet gained 2.8% in pre-market trading, the day after the presentation of Gemini, its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model.
AMD is up 3.6% in pre-market trading, the group having announced that it is evaluating the market for its processors intended for artificial intelligence (AI) in data centers at $45 billion this year.
VALUES IN EUROPE
Sanofi, which gained up to 1.5% in the first exchanges, is volatile (-0.86%) after the presentation of a portfolio of 12 drug candidates which could generate annual sales of more than a billion dollars (927.90 million euros)
Air France-KLM fell 5.45% after JPMorgan lowered its recommendation to “underweight”.
Derichebourg advances by 1.94% despite annual results below expectations. The operator of business services and raw materials recycling, however, said it was targeting a current EBITDA of more than 350 million euros for 2024, compared to 334.8 million reached during the 2022-2023 financial year.
Thyssenkrupp lost 3.91%, two sources having reported that the German group could have to reinject cash or resume part of its commitments on its employees’ pensions to convince Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky to become co-owner of its steel division.
RATE
The ten-year German Bund yield is trading at 2.187%, down two basis points and close to a seven-month low.
Its American equivalent of the same maturity increases three basis points, to 4.1552%, but it had reached a 16-year peak on October 23, at 5.021%.
Money markets are pricing in a 140 basis point cut in European Central Bank (ECB) rates and a 120 bps cut in Fed rates by the end of 2024.
CHANGES
The dollar fell 0.26% against a basket of benchmark currencies after rising to a two-week high of 104.23 points on Wednesday. The greenback is at this stage heading towards its best weekly performance since July.
The euro gained 0.11% to 1.0774 dollars in a volatile session where the single European currency fell for a time to a low of more than three weeks at 1.0757 against the American currency.
OIL
Oil, which fell to a six-month low on Wednesday due to concerns about Chinese and American demand for crude, rebounded on Thursday.
Brent rose 0.87% to $74.95 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose 0.81% to $69.94.
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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