RISE IN VIEW IN EUROPE UNDER A RAIN OF RESULTS
by Marc Angrand
PARIS (Archyde.com) – The main European stock markets are expected to rise on Thursday after a new burst of generally encouraging results which temporarily relegated fears linked to the war in Ukraine and the confinements in China to the background, even if caution continues to increase the dollar.
Index futures suggest a rise of 0.56% for the CAC 40 in Paris, 1.12% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 0.51% for the FTSE 100 in London and 1.2% for the EuroStoxx 50.
The “futures” on the main American indices suggest for the moment an opening in the green on Wall Street, led by the Nasdaq, which could take more than 1% after the better than expected results published Wednesday evening by Meta Platforms: l share of the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp gained more than 20% in non-session exchanges.
In Asia, Samsung Electronics reported quarterly profit up 51% while warning that semiconductor shortages are likely to persist in the second half.
In Europe, the session will once again be animated by the publications of turnover and results, with among others on the menu those of TotalEnergies, Sanofi, Thales, Capgemini, Pernod Ricard, Unilever, Nokia and Barclays.
At the same time, investors continue to monitor developments in the energy market after the halt in Russian gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, which caused the natural gas benchmark price to jump by 10%. in Europe on Wednesday.
In China, the health situation remains worrying, the Beijing authorities having closed several public places while continuing the massive campaign of tests aimed at avoiding large-scale confinement.
Also to follow is the first estimate of growth in the United States in the first quarter, which should mark a marked slowdown in the evolution of gross domestic product (GDP), or even a contraction, due to a record trade deficit.
A WALL STREET
The New York Stock Exchange ended in scattered order on Wednesday, the S&P-500 and the Dow Jones benefiting from the solid quarterly results published by Microsoft (+4.81%) and Visa (+6.47%), which reassured investors worried about the prospect of a global economic slowdown and rising interest rates, while the Nasdaq ended virtually unchanged, held back by Alphabet’s 3.7% decline.
At the close, the Dow Jones gained 0.19% to 33,301.93 points and the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 0.21% to 4,183.92 while the Nasdaq Composite posted a symbolic decline of 0.01% to 12,488.93 .
IN ASIA
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index ended up 1.75%, its best performance in two weeks, the rise accelerating after the announcement by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to maintain its ultra-accommodating monetary policy without any modification, while some investors feared adjustments linked to inflation.
In China, the rise runs out of steam as the close approaches, despite repeated promises of support for the economy and jobs from Prime Minister Li Keqiang: the Shanghai SSE Composite only takes 0.03 more % and the CSI 300 is almost back in balance.
CHANGES
Still on the rise, the dollar reached its highest level in 20 years against the yen at 130.27 (+1.31%) after the status quo of the Bank of Japan, which implies a widening of the rate differential with the Fed.
The euro continues to depreciate, penalized by fears of a marked slowdown in growth in Europe due to the conflict in Ukraine and tensions with Russia: it lost 0.39% against the greenback at 1 .0514 after briefly dipping below 1.05 for the first time since March 2017.
RATE
In the government bond market, US treasury bond yields maintained their rise from Wednesday but spreads narrowed ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday. The ten-year is displayed at 2.8282%, the two-year at 2.597%.
In Europe, the ten-year German is virtually stable in early trading at 0.815%. Investors will be watching at 12:00 GMT for the first estimate of German inflation in April.
OIL
The price of oil fell again after two sessions of rebound, overtaken by fears of a drop in Chinese demand due to health restrictions.
Brent fell 1.43% to 103.81 dollars a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 1.22% to 100.78 dollars.
(Written by Marc Angrand)