by Diana Mandia
(Reuters) – European stocks ended higher on Friday as markets digest eurozone and U.S. inflation data, which showed some slowing and fueled hopes for a softer approach to inflation. the monetary policy of the major central banks.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 0.81% at 7,322.39 points. The British Footsie for its part advanced by 0.15% and the German Dax by 0.69%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index and the FTSEurofirst 300 ended with a gain of 0.69% and the Stoxx 600 of 0.66%.
Over the week, the latter gained 4.13% and the CAC 40 4.3%, and the two indices posted respective increases of 7.86% and 13.1% over the first quarter as a whole.
The last session of the quarter was marked by a deluge of much-awaited indicators on inflation which show that it is tending to slow down even if the underlying trend in prices remains high, particularly in the euro zone.
Headline inflation in the euro zone thus posted its most marked slowdown in March since data for this statistic was collected in 1991 and stood at 6.9% over one year, against a Reuters consensus which gave it at 7, 1% after an increase of 8.5% in February.
Excluding volatile elements such as energy and food, however, price increases have increased this month.
In France, INSEE’s first estimate also showed that the year-on-year pace of inflation slowed in March, while food prices continued to accelerate to high levels.
In the United States, the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, a measure of inflation closely monitored by the Federal Reserve, rose by 0.3% last month after accelerating by 0.6% in January, while the so-called “core” PCE price index came out a little weaker than expected.
Faced with persistently high underlying inflation, the ECB still has a “little way” to go in raising its rates, Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said in an interview. published Friday by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
For her part, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, estimated on Friday that underlying inflation in the euro zone was still “significantly too high”.
VALUES
H&M gained another 3.4% the day after a 16% jump linked to its results, several intermediaries having raised their advice and price targets on the Swedish giant.
The banking index ended down 0.38%, the only sector in the red on the Stoxx 600, after the announcements of the White House in favor of a return to the regulation of small and medium banks.
AT WALL STREET
At the time of the close in Europe, the Dow Jones gained 0.81%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 advanced 0.88% and the Nasdaq rose 1.13%.
CHANGES
The dollar rose another 0.29% against a basket of benchmark currencies but pared its advance against the euro after inflation data led investors to believe there will be more rate hikes ahead. come to the euro zone than to the United States.
The single currency is moving to 1.0873 dollars.
RATE
Bond yields fell in Europe on Friday, along with US and European inflation data. The yield on two-year German government bonds, the most sensitive to interest rate expectations, fell four basis points to 2.682%, while its ten-year equivalent fell six basis points, to 2.288%.
In the United States, the yield on two-year Treasuries was unchanged at 4.09%, while the ten-year rate fell by nearly four basis points, to 3.5129%.
OIL
The oil market advanced on Friday with US inflation data.
Brent rose 0.58% to 79.73 dollars a barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 1.41% to 75.44 dollars.
(French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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