Paris (awp/afp) – Robust figures from the US job market on Friday comforted investors in their anticipation of rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve, but did not prevent equities from maintaining their momentum for the week .
After an opening down, Wall Street returned to green, as in the four previous sessions: the Nasdaq took 0.36%, the S&P 500 0.17% and the Dow Jones 0.16%, around 4:00 p.m. GMT.
European markets raised their heads after a craving when the report was published: Frankfurt took 1.34%, Milan 1.00%, Paris 0.44% and even London, in the red all day, concluded on a gain of 0.10%. In Zurich, the SMI gained 0.68%. All these places are progressing over the week, despite the first tumultuous sessions.
The job market in the United States came as a surprise on Friday, with job creations much higher than expected, according to data from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate remained stable.
The publication caused the bond market to react: the interest rate on the American 2-year loan jumped nine basis points to 3.10%. The 2-year rate is the one that best reflects investors’ expectations of the US central bank’s key rates (Federal Reserve, Fed).
The interest rate on the 10-year US loan also rose by ten basis points, to 3.09%.
The Fed, which wants to fight inflation, hinted earlier this week that it intended to continue raising rates as long as the job market remained tight.
“This should allow the Fed to raise its rates aggressively at its next meeting on July 27,” said John Plassard, investment specialist at Mirabaud. Investors estimate that the institution will increase its key rates by 0.75 percentage point, as at its last meeting.
But, good news for investors, “the pressure on wages has stabilized. This shows that inflation is stable” on this side, explains Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
The euro recovered a little after the publication of this report. The single European currency, at its lowest in 20 years, rebounded 0.18% to 1.0178 dollars around 3:55 p.m. GMT, after briefly falling below 1.01 dollars.
Lull on the gas ___
The price of gas in Europe relaxed a little, after a jump of 25% in a few days. The price of TTF, a benchmark listed in the Netherlands, fell 7.20% to 170 euros per megawatt hour.
The rise in the price of gas is putting pressure on the European economy, in particular certain companies.
Thus, Uniper (+0.55%) had yet another eventful session. The German energy giant is losing “several tens of millions of euros” a day due to the reduction in Russian gas deliveries, a “more tenable” situation which forced it on Friday to formalize its request for aid from the state.
New boss for JD sports ___
Sportswear brand JD Sports Fashion ended up 2.21% after announcing the appointment of a new chairman, Andy Higginson, former chairman of British supermarket giant Morrisons, as part of a reform of the governance of the group, in particular recording the separation of the positions of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
On the side of oil and bitcoin ___
Oil prices rose on Friday, continuing to regain a bit of height after their fall at the start of the week.
Around 3:40 p.m. GMT, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in September, took 2.37% to 107.19 dollars.
The barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in August, rose 1.85% to 104.60 dollars.
Bitcoin gained 1.44% to $21,930.
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