The “hawkish” tone of the ECB worries

At the end of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday, the market became convinced that European rates would also be raised this year, and even probably before the summer. Inflation is not only an American phenomenon, it is global and therefore also affects Europe. Eurozone price inflation reached 5.1% year on year in January, well above the 2% target set by the ECB. If Europe allows itself a few more months of reflection, it is because the increase in wages is lower there than in the United States.

European inflation, mainly caused by the rise in commodity prices and logistics costs, could fall more easily in the event of a trend reversal. On the other side of the Atlantic, prices are, of course, driven up by energy, but they are above all by wages, which gives a more lasting character to the movement. Friday, the figures published at the same time as the data on employment in January were eloquent: the average hourly wage rose by 5.7% over one year, after 4.7% in December. This acceleration confirms the idea that the Federal Reserve could raise its key rates by half a point in March.

On the business front, you had to have your heart firmly attached to Wall Street, with the collapse of Meta Platforms (ex-Facebook; – 26% Thursday) and the surge of Amazon on Friday (+ 12% at the opening ). At the Cac 40, Publicis Groupe and Vinci pleasantly surprised.

Furthermore, after the publication of a shocking book on retirement homes managed by Orpea (-62% since January 20), it was Korian who was in the hot seat on Friday (-17%), journalist Elise Lucet having promised revelations in his next show, Cash investigation.