Paris (+1.34%), Frankfurt (+1.46%), London (+1.56%) and Milan (+2.13%) managed to close in bullish territory. But over the week, only the British market is progressing.
Stock markets were trying to end the week in the green on Friday, despite promises from central banks for a rapid and strict tightening of their monetary policies.
Paris (+1.34%), Frankfurt (+1.46%), London (+1.56%) and Milan (+2.13%) managed to post a positive close. But over the week, only the British market is progressing. In Switzerland, the flagship SMI index ended up 1.09%.
After a modest rebound on Thursday, Wall Street was moving in dispersed order: the Dow Jones rose by 0.68%, the S&P 500 by 0.19%, while the Nasdaq slipped by 0.56% around 3:50 p.m. GMT.
“There is a real drive on the part of the US Federal Reserve to defeat inflation, so US monetary policy is going to become decidedly unaccommodative, furthermore rates are rising sharply and equity valuations remain very high,” lists Frédéric Rollin, investment strategy advisor at Pictet AM, to explain the difference in trend between Europe and the United States.
The US central bank is indeed planning major increases in its key rates and the reduction of its balance sheet as of May.
This displayed determination has thus caused “some profit taking before the start of the US earnings season next week”, notes Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
In Europe, voices for a tougher policy are also being heard within the European Central Bank, ahead of the next monetary policy meeting on Thursday, which should confirm “that the normalization of monetary policy is still in progress” , even if “its rhythm is very uncertain”, estimate the analysts of Unicredit.
This monetary context has helped to tighten interest rates for government bonds a little more.
The interest rate on US 10-year debt stood at 2.696%, gaining 3.8 basis points from the previous day. That of France, where the first round of the presidential election will take place on Sunday, advanced slightly to 1.258%.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict weighed a little less on the markets this week since “oil prices have rather fallen” according to Frédéric Rollin.
Friday, they went back a little following the losses of the day before, caught in a pincer movement between the release of strategic reserves from consumer countries, the drop in Russian supply and the erosion of demand from China.
The barrel of Brent for delivery in June took 0.69% to 101.27 dollars around 3:45 p.m. GMT, following once more briefly falling below 100 dollars in the morning. That of the American WTI maturing in May advanced 1.48% to 97.43 dollars.
The markets also ignored the health situation in China, which is facing its biggest epidemic outbreak in two years, which prompted the economic capital of Shanghai to tighten its containment.
“The Chinese economy might suffer from this situation but the monetary and governmental authorities seem ready to support the economy, which reassures the markets which have a longer term vision”, explains Frédéric Rollin. Chinese stock markets recorded losses of less than 1% over the week.
The euro at its lowest for a month
The euro fell once morest the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by the war in Ukraine and the divergence in the monetary policies of the Fed and the ECB. It fell 0.07% to 1.0871 dollars. Since the start of the year, it has lost more than 4% once morest the greenback.
Crédit Agricole places itself on Banco BPM, which is on the rise
The French bank Crédit Agricole (-0.02%) announced on Thursday that it had acquired a 9.18% stake in the capital of the Italian bank Banco BPM (+10.24%), the third largest in the country.
The change in Crédit Agricole’s share price was less positive than that of most other banks, such as BNP Paribas (+2.76%), Banco Santander (+2.58%) or Deutsche Bank (+3.51%), driven by the rise in interest rates on the bond market.
