The Paris Stock Exchange should take a break this Friday as oil prices continue to rise for lack of concrete progress in the discussions between Russia and Ukraine. The barrel of Brent rose 2.3% after jumping 8.8% on Thursday. Volatility should also rise a notch at the end of the morning in this session of the four witches which corresponds to the expiry of options and futures contracts on equities and indices in Europe and the United States.
At the close of Thursday evening, the Cac 40 posted a gain of 5.63% over the week, its best weekly performance since November. World markets have moved with hopes and disappointments for progress between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, but after four days of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, comments from both countries reinforce the feeling that the prospect of an agreement remains remote. .
Alleviation of Russian default fears
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed near their highs on Thursday evening, supported in particular by reports that Russia avoided a default by proceeding with the payment of coupons on bonds in dollars. JPMorgan would have recovered the funds to transfer them to Citigroup, reports Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Joe Biden is to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by videoconference at 2 p.m. (Paris time) as part of efforts to maintain relations between Washington and Beijing, the White House said in a statement. The American president should on this occasion warn that Beijing will have to pay a high price in the event of support for Russia, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Central banks have generally cited the war in Ukraine to justify, if not confirm, their inflation fears. The Fed and the Bank of England raised interest rates, while the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged while stressing the “ great uncertainty on the economic consequences linked to the conflict.
EDF launches a capital increase
EDF announced the launch of a capital increase for an amount of more than 3.1 billion euros aimed in particular at ” strengthen the group’s financial flexibility “. The electrician reports a subscription commitment from the State up to its 83.88% stake in the capital, or approximately 2.7 billion euros.
Wendel published a revalued net asset (ANR) up 18.3% over one year as of December 31, 2021 at 188.10 euros per share and indicated that it wanted to continue its equity investments this year despite a macroeconomic and uncertain geopolitics.