(Boursier.com) — THE TREND
Caution ! Weighed down by the fall of the Nasdaq last night, the CAC40 is expected to drop slightly at the start of the session. Red is clearly dominating in Asia this morning after the sharp turnaround on Wall Street where the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.2%, its worst day in three weeks. Investors are feverishly awaiting Jerome Powell’s speech (at 4:05 p.m.) at the Jackson Hole symposium, which brings together the world’s major financiers. They will be looking for any indication of the future path of Fed rates as the world’s largest economy shows surprising signs of resilience despite the aggressive monetary tightening undertaken by the Federal Reserve in recent months.
“There’s no real reason for Powell to take a dovish tone, and that could mean a tough weekend for stocks and a jump for the dollar,” said Matt Simpson, market analyst at City Index. Ahead of J. Powell’s speech, Fed Bank of Boston President Susan Collins told ‘Yahoo! Finance’ that rate increases may still be needed, adding that it was not ready to signal the high point. Meanwhile, his Philadelphia counterpart, Patrick Harker, expects interest rates to remain unchanged for the rest of the year and thinks policymakers have likely undertaken enough tightening, telling ‘CNBC’: “We we’ve probably done enough.”
On the bond market, the yield of ten-year Treasuries gained more than one basis point, to 4.249%, after hitting a high since 2007 at 4.366% on Wednesday. The two-year rate, which is more sensitive to monetary policy, is holding above 5%, providing support for the US dollar. The greenback touched a more than two-month peak this morning against a basket of benchmark currencies and is about to sign its sixth consecutive week of gains.
In addition to the intervention of several central bankers in Wyoming (Christine Lagarde will speak at 9 p.m.), operators will follow the German Ifo Business Climate Index in the morning (10:30 a.m.) then the final Index of American consumer sentiment measured by the University of Michigan. On the business side, the news is still very limited at the end of August.
On the Nymex, a barrel of WTI crude (October maturity) recovered 0.7% to $79.6. An ounce of gold fell 0.1% to $1,914. The dollar index advanced by 0.2% against a basket of reference currencies, at 104.2 pts, and the euro lost 0.2% against the greenback at $1.0785.
WALL STREET
The American market ended lower on Thursday, the nervousness before Jerome Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole having prevailed over the Nvidia effect after the publication of record quarterly results. The Dow Jones index fell 1.08% to 34,099.42 points. The S&P-500 lost 1.35% to 4,376.31 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.87% to 13,463.97 points. Nvidia ended practically stable (+0.09%) after taking up 6.5% in session to reach a historic high.
VALUES TO FOLLOW
* Dontnod announced that Jusant, its action-puzzle game, will be available on October 31 on Steam, Xbox Series XS and PlayStation 5. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass upon release. Pre-orders for the game are open now on Xbox Series XS and PlayStation 5.
* Carmat announced a postponement of the publication of its half-year accounts, initially scheduled for September 13. Citing “practical considerations”, the designer and developer of the world’s most advanced total artificial heart will announce its half-year results on September 25, 2023 after market close. The company will hold a videoconference in French and English on the same day.
* MG International. The Board of Directors had decided, on April 3, to submit for the approval of the June 21 general meeting a dividend of 0.34 euros per share for the 2022 financial year, entirely paid in cash. The resolution relating to this dividend distribution was approved. The dividend will be detached from the share on September 21, 2023 and will be paid on September 25, specifies the group.
* JCDecaux will be to follow while Deutsche Bank has raised its advice on the value to ‘purchase’ by targeting 21 euros.