PARIS (Reuters) – With the exception of London, European stock markets ended lower on Wednesday, as investors continued to analyze the consequences of the easing of health measures in China on global growth and inflation.
In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.61% to 6,510.49 points. Britain’s Footsie gained 0.32%, catching up after a long weekend, and Germany’s Dax fell 0.5%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index closed down 0.63%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.11% and the Stoxx 600 0.13%.
At the time of the close in Europe, the Wall Street benchmark indices were down 0.5% to 0.9%.
The trend is unfavorable to risk-taking at the end of the year. Investors remain concerned about monetary tightening by major central banks and the level of inflation that a possible reopening of China could increase.
In addition, the rise in COVID-19 cases in the world’s second-largest economy is still a cause for concern, leading several countries to impose new measures for people arriving from China.
CHANGES
Sign of the nervousness of currency traders, the greenback gained 0.24% against a basket of benchmark currencies.
“With infection levels running into the thousands a day, it’s no wonder China’s response to COVID tops many analysts’ list of concerns for 2023,” said analyst David Cottle. at DailyFX.
The euro, at 1.0619 dollars, fell slightly.
RATE
On the government bond market, the German ten-year ended stable at 2.507%. It jumped about 12 basis points the day before and hit a more than two-month high on expectations of rate hikes from the European Central Bank.
The yield of ten-year Treasuries is on the rise again, gaining nearly two basis points to 3.8751%, the highest since mid-November.
OIL
Both benchmark oil contracts retreated as rising COVID-19 cases in China, the world’s largest importer, raised fears of disruption to the country’s economic recovery.
Brent fell 1.83% to 82.79 dollars a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 1.61% to 78.25 dollars.
(Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)
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