New York (awp/afp) – European stock markets struggled to recover on Wednesday from the shock caused the day before by higher-than-expected inflation figures in the United States, but Wall Street pulled out of the game by taking advantage of bargain shopping.
The slap had been particularly violent for the American markets, with a fall of nearly 4% for the Dow Jones on Tuesday and more than 5% for the Nasdaq.
European markets, which had fallen less on Tuesday, ended overall in the red. Paris lost 0.37%, Frankfurt 1.22% and London 1.47%, although Milan gained 0.49%. In Zurich, the SMI lost 1.26%.
But in New York, after having hesitated for a long time, the indices ended up accelerating at the end of the session. The Dow Jones gained 0.10%, the Nasdaq index gained 0.74% and the broader S&P 500 index gleaned 0.34%.
“We evolved in tight margins, around balance, because we were in the digestion phase,” summarized Jay Hatfield, manager of the ICAP ETF fund. “It’s a classic day after a big skid.”
The New York market experienced one of its worst days of the year on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq losing the fourth largest total points in its history, after the publication of the CPI price index, higher than expected.
“History tells us that such one-day dropouts turn out to be buying opportunities,” said George Smith of LPL Financial.
In fact, investors bought up some of the most battered stocks on Tuesday, including Tesla (+3.59%), Amazon (+1.36%), Netflix (+2.75%) and Apple (+0, 96%).
Untenable on Tuesday, bond rates stabilized. The yield on 10-year US government bonds was unchanged at 3.40%.
Starbucks well served ___
Starbucks was sought (+ 5.53%) after raising its growth forecast on Tuesday for the period 2023-2025. The coffee chain is now banking on a range of 7 to 9% annual increase in its turnover on a like-for-like basis, against 4 to 5% so far.
Unite towards nationalization ___
The German government is considering the nationalization of its gas giant Uniper, struck down by cuts in the supply of Russian gas, of which it has already owned 30% since July, the company said. The title still sank by 18.26%. It has collapsed 90% since January 1.
On the currency and energy side ___
After falling back, the dollar returned almost to its previous level against the euro, at 0.9979 dollars (-0.08%) but lost 0.40% against the pound sterling, at 1.1539 dollar after British inflation figures, down but still very high (9.9% in August over one year).
Hit by a current of risk aversion, bitcoin dropped another 1.90% to 19,950 dollars. It has lost more than 10% since Monday.
Oil prices rebounded on Wednesday, the day after a drop, whipped by the lifting of health restrictions in China as well as the prospect of the end of the program of massive use of American strategic reserves.
The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for November delivery gained 0.99%, to close at $94.10.
The price of a barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery rose 1.34% to $88.48.
The price of natural gas rose by nearly 12% to 222 euros per megawatt hour on the benchmark market in Europe, the Dutch TTF.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised on Wednesday that the European Union would undertake “a comprehensive and in-depth reform” of its electricity market.
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