2023-11-17 18:12:26
(Photo: Getty Images)
MARKET REVIEWS. European stock markets are moving higher on Friday, driven by this week’s macroeconomic publications confirming the slowdown in American economic activity, which leaves the market hoping for a reduction in central bank rates.
Stock market indices at 7:30 a.m.
Futures contracts Dow Jones posted an increase of +86.00 points (+0.25%) to 35,105.00 points. Futures contracts S&P 500 increased by +9.50 points (+0.21%) to 4,532.75 points. Futures contracts Nasdaq advanced +3.00 points (+0.02%) to 15,900.50 points.
In London, the FTSE 100 gained +58.52 points (+0.79%) to 7,469.49 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 rose by +64.11 points (+0.89%) to 7,232.51 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX gained +130.84 points (+0.83%) to 15,917.45 points.
In Asia, the Nikkei of Tokyo advanced +160.79 points (+0.48%) to 33,585.20 points. For his part, the Hang Seng Hong Kong lost -378.63 points (-2.12%) to 17,454.19 points.
On the oil side, the price of a barrel of American WTI was up +US$1.00 (+1.37%) to US$73.90. The barrel of North Sea Brent collected +US$1.11 (+1.43%) to US$78.53.
The context
In the euro zone, the fall in the inflation rate to 2.9% over one year in October is confirmed, according to the second estimate published by Eurostat on Friday. The figure marks a very clear slowdown in price increases which stood at 4.3% in September and 5.2% in August.
In New York, futures contracts for the three main Wall Street indexes pointed to an opening up around 0.20%.
“The winds are favorable: key rate cuts are ahead of us, the process of disinflation is confirmed on both sides of the Atlantic, the economy is deteriorating, but only moderately, the majority of company results are good, particularly in tech and luxury,” summarizes Christopher Dembik, investment strategy advisor at Pictet.
“If we completely agree that the war against rising prices has not yet been won, more and more economists are now betting on one or more rate cuts (from the American central bank, Editor’s note) in 2024,” comments John Plassard, investment specialist at Mirabaud.
The American monetary institution has raised its interest rates 11 times since March 2022, bringing them to their highest level in 22 years, in a range of 5.25 to 5.50%.
The ECB is as scrutinized as the Fed by European investors, the Frankfurt institution having raised its main key rate to the historically high level of 4%, after ten increases in a row.
On the bond market, yields on ten-year notes fell to 4.41% compared to 4.44% the day before. The German rate at the same maturity also eased, to 2.57% compared to 2.59% at Thursday’s close.
In Asia, the flagship Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed at its highest level for four months (+0.48% at 33,585.20 points), while Hong Kong (-2.12%) was weighed down by the rout of Alibaba.
The action of the Chinese e-commerce giant Ali Baba fell by almost 10% in Hong Kong, after the group’s announcement the day before that it was abandoning the plan to split its “cloud” activity (dematerialized computing).
Volvo Cars takes a dive in Stockholm
The title of the car manufacturer Volvo Cars plunged by more than 10% on the Stockholm Stock Exchange after a large sale of shares by its controlling shareholder, the Chinese Geely.
Eiffage, a 4 billion euro contract
The construction giant Eiffage announced Thursday (after the stock market) that it had signed the contract with EDF to carry out the civil engineering work for the EPR2 nuclear reactors planned at Penly (Seine-Maritime), for an amount exceeding 4 billion euros.
In Paris, the stock gained 4.08%.
Oil rebounds, dollar stable
Oil prices were recovering after their sharp fall the day before, with the market’s attention now focused on OPEC+, which meets next week and which could intervene to halt the fall in prices.
The barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in January took 1.49% to US$78.58.
Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December, gained 1.38% to US$73.91.
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar was rather stable (-0.09%) against the euro, at US$1.0862 per euro.
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