by Marc Angrand
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to rise slightly as European stock markets move in scattered order but close to their recent highs at mid-session on Wednesday, weak volumes in this holiday season leaving the way clear for buyers despite concerns related to the coronavirus.
Futures contracts on major New York indices signal an opening up 0.04% for the Dow Jones, 0.08% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.19% for the Nasdaq.
In Paris, the CAC 40 is almost stable at 7,178.93 points around 11:45 GMT after having posted a record at the start of the session at 7,201.65. In London, where the markets had remained closed Monday and Tuesday, the FTSE 100 gained 0.9% while in Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.35%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index and the FTSEurofirst 300 are virtually unchanged, as is the Stoxx 600, which is trading less than 0.4% of its all-time high on November 17th.
The volumes on the Stoxx 600 as on the CAC 40, however, represent barely more than 20% of their daily average for the past month.
Investors seem to continue to favor the scenario of the continued economic recovery despite the surge of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is resulting in record numbers of new cases of infection in several countries, including the United States and France.
The available information suggesting that this variant is not more dangerous than the previous ones and that the vaccination booster is effective help to reassure the markets.
“The optimism is based on the assumption that the restrictions will not be prolonged,” summarizes Naeem Aslam, analyst of AvaTrade.
VALUES IN EUROPE
The strongest sector increase in Europe was for the distribution compartment, whose Stoxx index rose 1.01%, driven by British brands such as Kingfisher (+ 2.39%) or Marks & Spencer (+ 2.56 %).
The largest drop is for the automotive sector, which yields 0.81%.
In Paris, Teleperformance takes 2.06% at the top of the CAC 40 after announcing the acquisition of the American group Senture on the basis of an enterprise value of 400 million dollars (353.4 million euros).
In the banking sector, Deutsche Bank cedes 0.99% after being fined by BaFin, the financial market authority in Germany, a fine of 8.66 million euros for control failures linked to the interbank rate Euribor.
RATE
The evolution of bond yields also reflects the general trend in favor of risky assets, which distracts investors from government bonds: that of ten-year US Treasury bills is up more than one point to 1.4945% and its German equivalent of more than two points at -0.218%, the highest since November 24.
CHANGES
In the currency market, where volumes are also very low, the dollar appreciates against other major currencies, including the euro, which lost 0.07% to 1.1301, and the yen, which hit a plus. low of a month.
Risk-sensitive currencies like the Australian dollar are also doing well.
On the emerging side, the Turkish lira lost 4.92% against the dollar, continuing to decline after the rebound of more than 15% recorded last week.
OIL
The oil market started to fall again after a good start to the day in reaction to the weekly figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) which show, according to several professionals, a decline of 3.1 million barrels of crude stocks in the United States. United States.
Brent drops 0.27% to 78.73 dollars a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 0.46% to 75.63 dollars.
NO MAJOR US ECONOMIC INDICATOR ON TODAY’S AGENDA
(Written by Marc Angrand)
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