(CercleFinance.com) – The European stock markets start the week mostly in the red (-0.4% in London and -0.7% in Frankfurt), Paris (+0.4%) nevertheless standing out the day after the results of the first round of the French presidential election.
Investors seem to take a good look at Emmanuel Macron’s lead over his rival Marine Le Pen, a larger gap than that predicted by some polls and which suggests a re-election of the outgoing President of the Republic.
In terms of statistics, we will learn this week (shortened in some places because of Good Friday) of the ZEW index in Germany, inflation in the United Kingdom and especially the decisions of the Governing Council of the ECB.
‘The board is expected to leave guidance unchanged, indicating it expects to end net asset purchases in the third quarter and raise policy rates ‘sometime’ thereafter,’ Capital Economics predicted last week.
‘However, Christine Lagarde will have to concede that inflation is much higher than expected. And in our view, policymakers are likely to present their interest rate hike plans soon as inflation continues to surprise on the upside,” he added.
In the United States, consumer, producer and import prices are expected this week, as well as retail sales for the month of March, and a preliminary estimate of the UMich consumer confidence index. .
The next few days will finally see the start of the earnings season for the first quarter, with in particular those of the major American banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
In securities news, Equinor climbs more than 3% on the OMX after the oil and gas company discovered near the Troll and Fram area, the sixth since autumn 2019 in this area in North Sea.
Ericsson sold more than 1%, the telecom equipment manufacturer having announced provisions and impairment charges in its first quarter accounts due to the suspension for an ‘indefinite’ period of its activities in Russia.
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