D-Day for the US Federal Reserve, which is preparing, unless there is a huge surprise, to raise its interest rates by 50 basis points and to give indications on the next reduction in its balance sheet. In this expectation, futures contracts on the Cac 40 index point to a limited decline of 0.1% to 0.2% at the opening.
The Fed will issue its monetary policy statement at 8 p.m. before Jerome Powell’s traditional press conference half an hour later. The US central bank is expected to announce the largest tightening since May 2000 by raising the Fed funds rate to a range of 0.75% to 1% and announce that it is preparing to reduce its balance sheet, currently around 9,000 billion. of dollars, starting in June at the rate of 95 billion dollars per month.
“Faster, stronger”
The Fed chairman is expected to reinforce market expectations, which is banking on additional rate hikes, while being careful not to lose control as some FOMC members have argued for 75 basis point hikes. . His statements before the IMF on the need to go faster and harder on rate hikes to curb inflation have raised fears about the magnitude of the movements to follow at a time when the world economy is entering a phase of lasting slowdown.
The JOLT statistic, which measures job vacancies in the United States, revealed that the number of vacancies rose to 11.5 million in March, reflecting strong tensions in the labor market, as well as the risk wage inflation. ADP Employer Services is due to publish its US private employment survey at 2:15 p.m., which should point to a slight slowdown in job creations to 383,000 in April, after 455,000 in March.
Solvay raises its EBITDA forecast
But before that, S&P Global will have unveiled at 10 a.m. its PMI activity index in the services sector in the euro zone, which should have improved thanks to the recovery of certain sectors such as tourism and catering with the relaxation of health constraints. It will be followed at 4 p.m. by the equivalent ISM survey in the United States.
Solvay raised its underlying gross operating profit (EBITDA) target for 2022, after posting record results and well above analysts’ expectations for the first quarter.
EDF announced a strong increase in its turnover in the first quarter, fueled by high electricity and gas prices, but recalled that this performance would only have a “limited” impact on its gross surplus of operations (Ebitda) due in particular to the drop in production.
Neoen confirmed its objectives in terms of financial results and production and published net sales growth for the first quarter, driven by a 20% increase in its electricity production.