by Laetitia Volga
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to rise slightly and European stock markets move in dispersed order at midday on Friday, investors reluctant to take positions for the last session before Christmas amid questions about central banks’ monetary policy remain.
Futures contracts signal an increase of 0.19% for the Dow Jones, 0.2% for the Standard & Poor’s-500 and 0.26% for the Nasdaq.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.2% to 6,504.93 around 12:20 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax gains 0.23% and in London, the FTSE rises 0.07%.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index is up 0.07%, the Eurozone EuroStoxx 50 is down 0.11% and the Stoxx 600 is up 0.15%.
The indices ended lower on Thursday, signs of resilience in the US economy having fueled fears that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would continue its monetary tightening in the face of inflation longer than expected, with the risk of a recession.
The trend could be influenced by monthly household income and spending figures due at 1:30 p.m. GMT, which include the Federal Reserve’s most watched “core PCE” price index.
The Reuters consensus gives a deceleration to 4.7% over one year after 5% in October.
“There is a sense of caution following Thursday’s decline. Markets are in a wait-and-see mode ahead of key inflation data, which will provide some clues about the Fed’s next move,” said Victoria Scholar, chief investment officer. at Interactive Investor.
“It looks like a disappointing December will cap off a disappointing year for equities unless there is a last-minute jump, which seems unlikely at this stage,” she added.
The MSCI World index has lost around 20% since the start of the year.
RATE
The prospect of continued monetary tightening by the Fed and the European Central Bank continues to support government bond yields.
That of ten-year Treasuries gained four basis points, to 3.706%.
On the European bond market, the ten-year German has recorded a peak for two months, at 2.397%.
CHANGES
The greenback fell 0.15% against a benchmark basket after two sessions in the red and the euro advanced in the same proportions to 1.0618.
OIL
The oil market is trending higher with the prospect of lower Russian crude exports following Western sanctions.
Brent gained 2.04% to 82.63 dollars a barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 2.34% to 79.3 dollars.
(Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)
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