Morale OK? Elements of response this Friday on the Stock Exchange

When morale is good, everything is fine… and vice versa. After two years of health crisis, consumer morale, particularly on the Old Continent, more locked down by restrictions, remains at half mast. This is all the more so as social tensions arise here and there. The preliminary confidence index of European households, which will be published by the European Commission at 4 p.m., is expected to remain anchored in negative territory in January. It is expected at -9, after -8.3 in December. At the same time, in the United States, operators will become aware of The Conference Board’s index of leading indicators for December, which also measures trust. The statistic is important since household spending accounts for two-thirds of the US gross national product. The consensus expects an increase of 0.8%. It should be noted, finally, that the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagardewill speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

As for values, calm is returning after two fairly busy days in terms of fourth quarter results publications. Investors will have to settle for the performance of the American oil drilling specialist Schlumberger.