by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Tuesday after two consecutive sessions in the red, while Wall Street was also moving in the green mid-term, with equity markets benefiting from a technical rebound after the sharp declines linked to fears of a rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 1.38% to 6,964.99 points. The British Footsie took 1.38% and the German Dax 1.36%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index gained 1.65%, the FTSEurofirst 300 1.38% and the Stoxx 600 1.42%.
The rapid release of the Omicron variant has revived concerns about global economic growth in previous sessions, but corporate results and a technical rebound are fueling the positive trend in equity markets on Tuesday.
The increase in Europe is mainly driven by basic resources and the energy compartment in the wake of the rise in copper prices and oil prices.
“Santa Claus was nowhere to be found amid pessimism yesterday and a lot of people are buying the decline today, but investors are so nervous about the situation that any news is taken as a sign,” commented Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell.
In terms of health, several European countries were considering new restrictions on travel and gatherings on Tuesday in the face of the lightning spread of the Omicron variant.
In France, the government has decided to speed up the implementation of a vaccination pass, supposed to replace the health pass, with a bill presented to the extraordinary council of ministers on Monday with a view to final adoption of the text by the government. Parliament by mid-January.
VALUES IN EUROPE
In Europe, all the compartments of the Stoxx 600 ended up in the green, with basic resources (+ 2.4%), finance (+ 1.82%) and utilities (+ 1.67%) falling. head.
The technology sector (+ 1.68%) benefited from the strong results of the American chipmaker Micron Technology. STMicroelectronics, ASM International, Infineon Technologies and ASML gained 1.17%, 0.5%, 1.65% and 3.61% respectively.
Sports equipment manufacturers Adidas and Puma, for their part, benefited from Nike’s results.
In Paris, the Bolloré group jumped 11.5% after receiving an offer from the shipowner MSC for its transport and logistics activities in Africa on the basis of an enterprise value of 5.7 billion euros.
Sanofi gained nearly 1% after the announcement by the French laboratory of the acquisition of the American group Amunix Pharmaceuticals for an amount of approximately one billion dollars.
On the downside, Eramet dropped 0.63%, the mining and metallurgical group having identified financial fraud in its cash management.
DBV Technologies for its part fell 37.7% after asking the European Medicines Agency to withdraw its application for approval of Viaskin Peanut, a patch against allergy to peanuts.
A WALL STREET
At the time of the close in Europe, the Dow Jones was up 1.45%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 by 1.15% and the Nasdaq by 1.31%.
The Dow Jones was notably supported by Nike (+ 6.4%), which published Monday evening a turnover and a quarterly profit above expectations and said he was confident about an improvement in tensions in the chains of procurement for its next annual fiscal year.
Micron Technology, which announced to anticipate a profit for the second quarter better than expected, soars by 9.5% and pulls all the compartment of the semiconductors: Nvidia, Qualcomm, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are in the green.
On the downside, the agri-food group General Mills fell by nearly 4% after quarterly results below expectations linked in part to the rise in the cost of raw materials, transport and labor.
CHANGES
On the foreign exchange market, the dollar is stable against a basket of benchmark currencies while currencies more exposed to uncertainties are sought in a context of renewed appetite for risk.
The euro, virtually unchanged, trades at $ 1.1271.
The Turkish lira, which has lost 44% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year, is volatile after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented on Monday a plan he said would guarantee investments denominated in the currency against market fluctuations. The Turkish Lira trades at 12.8730 per dollar after fluctuating in the session between 11.0935 and 14.3885.
RATE
The renewed appetite for risk favors the rise in yields on government bonds. The ten-year US Treasury bill rate gained 6.8 basis points to 1.4857%, after hitting its lowest level in more than two weeks on Monday, below 1.36%.
In Europe, that of the ten-year German Bund ended with a gain of 5.8 points, at -0.305%, while its French equivalent with the same maturity ended up 6.8 points, at 0.0610%.
OIL
The oil market is recovering despite concerns about global demand in the context of the spread of the Omicron variant.
“After a few difficult days, crude prices are rebounding because a large part of the concerns related to COVID-19 are built into prices,” notes Edward Moya, analyst at OANDA.
Brent gained 2.78% to $ 73.48 per barrel and US crude rose 3.08% to $ 70.73 per barrel.
TO BE CONTINUED ON WEDNESDAY:
(Some data may show a slight lag)
(Report Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean Terzian)
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