by Laetitia Volga
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to rise and European stock markets advance at mid-session Tuesday, amid investor optimism about the impact of the Omicron variant on the global economy.
Futures on major New York indices are showing an opening up 0.5% for the Nasdaq and around 0.2% for the Dow Jones, as it does for the Standard & Poor’s 500.
It could thus reach a new high at the opening after having signed the day before its 69th record in closing since the beginning of the year.
In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.46% to 7,173.13 at 12:13 GMT, after registering a new high in the session, at 7,183.35.
In Frankfurt, the Dax takes 0.68% and the London Stock Exchange remains closed for “Boxing Day”.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index is up 0.53%, the Eurozone EuroStoxx 50 0.46% and the Stoxx 600 0.55% to 488.18 points.
The latter, at the highest in more than a month, evolves within three points of its absolute record, registered in mid-November. Trading volumes are however limited on the European markets: for the Stoxx 600, they only represent 10% of their daily average for the past month.
Risk appetite remains strong at the end of the year despite the upsurge in COVID-19 cases around the world.
While England does not plan for new restrictions by the new year, the French government has announced, unsurprisingly, a strengthening of measures, which for the time being rule out a curfew and the closure of bars and restaurants.
VALUES IN EUROPE
All sectors of the European rating are in the green and the most marked increases are for utilities. Its Stoxx index gained 0.96%.
Veolia leads the CAC 40 with a gain of 2.08%. It precedes the TechnipFMC ranking (+ 1.61%) which, like Vallourec (+ 3.90%), benefits from the rise in oil prices.
In Zurich, Clariant gained 1.11% after announcing the purchase of the clay assets in North America of its German rival BASF (+ 0.47%), in a transaction of 60 million dollars ( 53 million euros).
RATE
With fears about Omicron fading, government bond yields are up slightly: that of the ten-year German Bund shows a gain of nearly two basis points at -0.227%, its French equivalent goes up almost d as much, at 0.146%.
In the United States, the yield on ten-year Treasuries gained a little less than one point, to 1.4893%.
“We continue to view Omicron as a less dangerous variant (…). The general idea is that governments will be able to cope with the pandemic, but central banks will not change their more restrictive (” hawkish “position) ) designed to fight inflation, ”said Andrea Delitala at Pictet Asset Management.
CHANGES
The spreads are small on the currency market: the dollar gives up 0.07% against a basket of reference currencies and the euro is trading at 1.1333 dollars (+ 0.07%).
The yen stabilizes against the greenback after hitting a one-month low during the session, penalized by its status as a safe haven.
OIL
Oil prices are stepping up their gains, in the hope that the Omicron variant will have a limited impact on demand.
A barrel of Brent gained 1.46% to 79.75 dollars and that of US light crude (WTI), up for the fifth day in a row, took 1.67% to 76.83 dollars.
(Written by Laetitia Volga, edited by Sophie Louet)
Copyright © 2021 Thomson Reuters