Beautiful fair week gets a nice ending | Financial

The AEX closed 1.5% higher at 508 points. This brings the weekly profit – tomorrow the fair is closed due to Good Friday – to almost 8%. The AMX rose 1.6% to 691.8 points on the last trading day of this week.

The other European stock exchanges also gained considerable ground. The British FTSE 100 and the German DAX climbed 2.4% and 1.7% respectively. French CAC 40 rose 0.7%.

The mood also remained good on the American stock markets. When the European stock markets closed, the Dow Jones index was 1.7% higher. The Nasdaq index lagged modestly plus 0.1%.

The ongoing boom in global equity markets is partly due to the announcement of a new $ 2.3 trillion bailout package by the U.S. central bank. “This is very important. The Fed thus indicates that it is doing everything it can to combat this crisis, ”reports JP Morgan investment strategist Vincent Juvyns.

Juvyns can understand that investors were not very concerned about the news that 6.6 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefit in the past week. “Unemployment is skyrocketing, but the main concern is that consumption will drop sharply. Because the government has increased benefits, purchasing power remains reasonably stable. ”

Juvyns sees no reason to become more positive about equities after the recent rally. “There are signs that the lockdowns are having an effect. More and more government leaders speak of an exit strategy. This increases the likelihood that the economic shock will be severe, but briefly over time. For the time being, however, the peak in the number of infections has not yet been reached and it may take a while before the economy starts to function properly again. ”

InsingerGilissen analyst Jos Versteeg is also cautious. “We are still neutral on equities. Although we see improvements in the number of new infections, valuations have already risen sharply. The question is also how strong the economic recovery will be if the lockdowns are lifted. The current situation seems worse than during the financial crisis of 2008. Fortunately, companies are generally in a better financial position than at the time, but many are experiencing a sharp deterioration in results. ”

Versteeg also points out that recovery movements almost never go up in a straight line, as has been the case in the past four weeks. “In these periods, another soil test usually follows.”

Saxobank trader Chris Jongbloed sees cause for optimism. “Austria restarts normal life. Things are also slightly improving in Italy, Spain and Germany. It seems that after some very bad economic months, recovery will follow in the second half of the year. The condition is that the lockdowns will be reversed soon. ”

Jongbloed is also confident that the major oil-producing countries today agree on a production restriction. “Saudi Arabia cannot live with the current low oil prices, because its budget is aligned with a much higher price. Other countries, such as the US and Russia, also benefit greatly from a much higher oil price. With a severe production limitation, and I think of more than 10 million barrels a day, the oil price can quickly recover to $ 40. ”

Versteeg is less optimistic. “There may be a deal, but I don’t think those 10 million barrels will work. Saudi Arabia and Russia, however, have to sacrifice a lot. Another factor is that the G20 countries are meeting tomorrow and some are not at all eager for a higher oil price. ”

Eurozone finance ministers have resumed video negotiations on a European aid package totaling € 540 billion. The Eurogroup did not yet reach an agreement on Wednesday.

In the AEX Just Eat Takeaway the absolute condiment with a profit of 13.7%. The food ordering group seems to be taking advantage of the corona crisis. The parent company behind Thuisbezorgd.nl saw the number of orders increase by half in the first quarter.

Insurer ASR climbed 5.4%, supported by a buying advice from Credit Suisse.

Healthcare technology group Philips (+ 3.7%) will supply 43,000 ventilators to the United States Department of Health. In total, the deal is worth over € 595 million.

Royal Dutch Shell gained 1.1%, supported by an increase in oil prices of around 4%. ABN Amro removed the heavyweight in the AEX from the purchase list. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is said to have bought shares of European energy giants such as Shell.

Chip machine manufacturer ASML ended with a negative of 0.9% at the bottom.

The supplier to the chip sector ASMI closed 0.3% lower, after being placed on the purchase list by Kepler Cheuvreux.

Real estate funds ended in the AMX NSI and Eurocommercial Properties with gains of 7.5% and 6.4% at the top.

Air France KLM lost 0.3%, after reporting that passenger numbers fell by 56.6% in March. The French government expects Air France to require “massive state aid.”

Locally noted Kiadis Pharma skyrocketed 35.7%. The biotechnology company has filed a so-called IND application for new medicines with the US regulator FDA. It concerns the cell therapy product K-NK002 that is intended to help against certain types of leukemia.

Stern (+ 7.3%) expects to record a windfall in the first quarter of this year. The results of insurance company Bovemij, in which the car company has an interest of over 5%, turned out higher.

Fastned won 6.6%. The operator of fast charging stations says it has had its strongest quarter ever.

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