Updated with close of Wall Street and Oil
NEW YORK (awp/afp) – Markets experienced renewed anxiety on Friday in the face of disappointing indicators and mixed bank results, even if technology stocks helped Wall Street resist.
In Europe, Frankfurt fell by 0.93%, Paris -0.81%, London -0.28% and Milan -1.08%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones lost 0.56%, while the Nasdaq, sucked up by the technology sector, gained 0.59%, and the broader S&P 500 index gleaned 0.08%.
The market is weighed down by a “renewed tension on just about all fronts, starting with that of interest rates and the American Federal Reserve which is chasing inflation”, Lionel Melka, director of research, told AFP. at Home Capital.
The statements on Thursday by the future vice-president of the American central bank (Fed), Lael Brainard, woke up the markets on the determination of the institution to fight against inflation.
Investors understood that an initial monetary tightening would potentially take place as early as March in the United States and that others would follow.
The volley of disappointing macroeconomic statistics on Friday, primarily retail sales for December, will “not change the attitude of the Fed”, reacted Karl Haeling, of the LBBW bank. “It would take a really marked slowdown in growth” for that, he said.
Retail sales fell 1.9% from November, while economists had expected a virtually stable figure (-0.1%).
At the end of a week marked by sector rotation, with an interest in cyclical stocks and discounted compared to growth and technology stocks, the trend turned around on Wall Street on Friday.
The heavyweights of the rating, Microsoft (+1.77%), Apple (+0.51%) or Alphabet (+0.47%), which together weigh more than 7,000 billion dollars in capitalization, have managed to bring the Nasdaq out of its lethargy. The index ended up after moving much of the session in the red.
Technology stocks fared less well in Europe, where Worldline (-3.95%) and Teleperformance (-1.83%) in Paris, but also Infineon (-2.01%) in Frankfurt, fell back.
Contrasting American banks
JPMorgan Chase was leaked (-6.15%) after posting quarterly revenue below expectations.
The establishment also warned that it could miss a key short-term profitability objective.
Also sanctioned, Citigroup (-1.25% to 66.93 dollars), which nevertheless did better than expected on both its turnover and its profit.
Investors focused more on the drop in income from retail banking and market activities.
Only Wells Fargo pulled out of the game (+3.68% to 58.06 dollars) and did much better than expected, with revenues up 13% year on year.
On the side of oil, the euro and bitcoin
Oil prices climbed Friday to their highest in two and a half months, while the production of black gold from OPEC + may struggle to meet a rise in demand.
The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for March maturity rose 1.88% to $86.06, a one-breath high from its 2021 record on Oct. 26 at $86.40.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery gained 2.07% to 83.82 dollars, its highest since November 9.
The European currency yielded 0.34% to 1.1415 dollars around 9:50 p.m. GMT, after having earlier reached 1.1483 dollars for one euro, a peak since mid-November.
Bitcoin took 0.90% to 43,264 dollars, after losing 2.2% the day before.
bur-pan-tu/ic