Paris ends up 0.46% and Frankfurt 0.74%. London ends close to equilibrium (+0.06%). Over the week, the European indices posted losses of around 1%.
Western stock markets remained on the sidelines after mixed inflation data on Friday, at the end of a week dominated by a loss of risk appetite in the face of the specter of a recession.
In Europe, Paris ended up 0.46%, Frankfurt 0.74%. London ended close to equilibrium (+0.06%). Over the week, the European indices posted losses of around 1%.
In Zurich, the SMI ended on a positive note with an advance of 0.58%, even passing very briefly above the 11,100 point mark, before a busy week with the publication of US inflation and the Federal Reserve (Fed), ECB and SNB meetings.
Wall Street lacked direction with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices near balance, with the Nasdaq index up 0.29% around 5:15 p.m. GMT.
The stock market week was dominated by caution after a positive performance of equities since mid-October, a wait-and-see attitude in anticipation of three major monetary policy meetings.
“With the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England all set to hike rates by 50 basis points, the focus now shifts to what’s next,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. .
Ahead of US consumer prices for November, a key indicator expected on Tuesday, investors have examined several contrasting data on inflation in the United States.
Producer prices rose more than expected in November over one month, but over one year the rise in prices slowed to 7.4% against 8.1% in October.
As for the confidence of American consumers, it recovered in December, when analysts expected it to drop, but it remained at a historically low level.
Households’ twelve-month inflation expectations have improved but remain high.
Enough to increase the tension on the debt market where the rate of the American State for the 10-year loan rose to 3.54% around 5:00 p.m. GMT, driving European yields up.
The Fed’s estimates of the evolution of interest rates will be a determining factor.
The Fed’s latest rate hike of the year may slow to 50 basis points, after four consecutive 75 basis point hikes.
Lululemon has people pondering their predictions
The sports equipment manufacturer Lululemon (-12.7%), popularized thanks to its yoga pants, fell back, despite the publication of a turnover and a net profit above expectations. Investors were offended by the group’s forecasts for the fourth quarter, considered cautious.
Ypsomed blowout
Shares of Swiss medical equipment maker Ypsomed fell 15.6% in Zurich following the decision of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to end their partnership to distribute insulin pumps in the United States.
“Ypsomed plans to continue with its pump project in the United States, but another partner must first be identified,” reacted Sibylle Bischofberger, analyst at Vontobel, in a stock market comment.
On the side of currencies and oil
The euro returned close to 1.06 dollars in the morning on Friday, a threshold more exceeded since the end of June, for the second time this week. It yielded 0.12% to 1.0544 dollars around 5:15 p.m. GMT.
Oil prices benefited from supply disruptions in the United States, after the shutdown of a pipeline, and in the Black Sea, but also from more optimistic investor sentiment with the relaxation of Chinese health policy. On Thursday, the two world reference varieties hit their lowest point of the year.
The barrel of Brent from the North Sea for February delivery took 0.30% to 76.38 dollars and that of American WTI for January delivery 0.56% to 71.84 dollars around 5:15 p.m. GMT.