EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS FALL AT MID-SESSION
by Marc Angrand
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to be in disarray on Friday as European stocks give way mid-session, as risk aversion once again prevails against the prospect of higher interest rates from March and nagging concerns about inflation.
Futures contracts on the main New York indices signal an opening up 0.18% for the Dow Jones but near stability for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and a decline of 0.12% for the Nasdaq.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.65% to 7,154.02 points around 11:50 GMT and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.65% while in London, the FTSE 100 was practically unchanged, thanks to the support of oil stocks. and mining.
The EuroStoxx 50 index is down 0.81%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.51% and the Stoxx 600 0.65%.
The latter currently shows a decline of 0.64% over the whole week and the CAC 40 a decline of 0.86%.
Statements by several US Federal Reserve officials on Thursday have rekindled concerns about rising prices and the expected tightening of monetary policy: Likely future central bank Vice Chair Lael Brainard told the Senate that the he institution had planned “several rate hikes during the year” and that it could take action “as soon as our purchases are completed”, therefore potentially as early as the meeting in mid-March.
San Francisco Regional Office President Mary Daly later deemed it “reasonable” to raise rates in March and her Chicago counterpart Charles Evans said monetary policy was “counter-beneficial” for now. foot” from the point of view of inflation.
The Nasdaq, down 2.51% at Thursday’s close, erased its rebound from the previous three sessions.
Wall Street’s open trend could further be influenced by both monthly US retail sales figures and quarterly results from JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, three of the major US banks.
VALUES IN EUROPE
The largest sectoral decline in Europe is for high technologies in the wake of the Nasdaq: their Stoxx index yields 1.49%.
The only marked increase is for the energy compartment (+0.74%) thanks to the increase in crude oil prices, at their highest for two months.
Red lantern of the Stoxx 600, EDF fell 15.92% and headed for the worst session in its stock market history after the announcement of new measures aimed at limiting the rise in the electricity bill of French individuals and the revision to the fall in the 2022 nuclear production forecast.
The capitalization of the French number one is now lower than that of its main competitor in France, Engie (-1.31%).
The German business software publisher SAP, which had started in the green after the presentation of its 2021 results and the announcement of a new share buyback plan, was overtaken by the general decline in “techs” and gives up 1.2%.
RATE
Yields on government bonds are rising again before the day’s publications in the United States and thus limit their weekly decline: the ten-year American, which had returned below 1.7% in session Thursday, rises to 1.7415% and drags in its wake its German equivalent, at -0.063%.
CHANGES
The dollar is stabilizing against the other major currencies but remains close to the low of more than two months touched Thursday, the forex traders judging that the next decisions expected from the Fed are already priced in by the market.
The greenback is thus heading for a decline of around 1% over the week, its worst weekly performance since last May.
The euro is trading at $1.1453 after hitting 1.1482 early in the day, its highest level since November 11.
OIL
Hesitant at the start of the day, oil prices are now firmly on the upside, a movement favored by the weakness of the dollar and the persistent supply constraints.
Brent gained 0.89% to 85.22 dollars a barrel, the highest since November 10, and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 0.8% to 82.78 dollars.
Both are heading for a fourth positive weekly performance in a row and Brent’s rebound from its early December low is now around 30%.
(Report Marc Angrand, edited by Blandine Hénault)