PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to be mixed on Friday, with the markets digesting numerous indicators, while the European stock markets are showing good progress at mid-session, driven by numerous results.
Futures on New York indices suggest Wall Street opening in the green, with the Dow Jones falling 0.10%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 gains 0.2% and the Nasdaq 0.56%.
In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 0.57% to 7,787.81 points around 11:45 GMT. The Dax in Frankfurt gained 0.78%, compared to 1.03% for the FTSE in London, supported by better than expected retail sales in January.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.68%, compared to 0.62% for the EuroStoxx 50 and 0.63% for the Stoxx 600.
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Investors will be attentive to the producer price indicator and that of consumer confidence, calculated by the University of Michigan, while the latest indicators offer a contrasting image of the American economy.
Inflation, published at the start of the week, remained strong, but retail sales published on Thursday marked a greater decline than expected in January.
Similarly, industrial production fell in January, but the Philly Fed index rebounded unexpectedly in February and new jobless claims were lower than expected.
Investors are therefore hesitant about the conduct that the Federal Reserve will adopt, which must bring inflation back to its target but may have to relax its monetary policy earlier than expected in the event of a too strong slowdown in the economy – the stability of the financial markets. employment constituting the second mandate of the Fed.
“After a very good January employment report and the sharp rise in inflation, fears of an overheating of the economy were becoming more and more acute,” recalls BofA strategists, who estimate that the The latest figures rule out this risk.
“We remain confident in our scenario of a benign slowdown in activity, with the risk still tilted slightly upwards.”
In Europe, the numerous quarterly results are livening up discussions.
VALUES TO FOLLOW IN WALL STREET
Nike announced Thursday it would cut about 2% of its workforce, or more than 1,600 jobs, as the sportswear giant seeks to cut costs after posting weaker profits this year.
Applied Materials, which supplies semiconductor equipment, forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday as it benefits from a recovery in demand for personal computers and a boom in artificial intelligence.
VALUES TO FOLLOW IN EUROPE
Eutelsat increased by 1.66%, the group having reported on Friday a 3.7% increase in its turnover in the second quarter, driven by its geostationary satellite activity.
Euronext recovered by 1.74% after reporting Thursday evening a better than expected adjusted operating profit in the fourth quarter.
Teleperformance announced on Friday a new organization of its governance. The stock increased by 1.98%.
Umicore dropped 2%, after publishing results below expectations in the second half, the group’s outlook also falling short of market forecasts.
Swiss Re, which published a net profit for 2023 without surprise, lost 2.51%.
The manufacturer of construction chemicals Sika published an annual profit on Friday in line with analysts’ forecasts and said it expected an increase in sales of 6% to 9% in 2024. The stock advanced 4.45%.
Norwegian Air soars 11.45%, the airline having announced that it is targeting a record profit this year.
RATE
Yields are up slightly as markets digest the economic indicators released this week.
The yield on the ten-year Treasury increased by 2 bps to 4.2595%, while the two-year rose by 3.5 bps to 4.6032%.
The yield on the German ten-year rose by 3.5 bp to 2.387%, that of the two-year rate increased by 3.1 bp to 2.7932%.
CHANGES
Foreign exchange markets are calm.
The dollar is stable against a basket of reference currencies, the euro rises by 0.06% to $1.0777, and the pound sterling erodes by 0.06% to $1.2593.
OIL
Sentiment is poor in oil markets after the International Energy Agency on Thursday lowered its forecast for crude demand growth in 2024.
Brent declined 0.98% to $82.05 per barrel, American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) dropped 0.86% to $77.36.
(Written by Corentin Chappron, edited by Zhifan Liu)
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