(CercleFinance.com) – European stock markets are down on Friday (-0.2% in London, -0.8% in Frankfurt, -0.7% in Paris), in the wake of a close in half-mast on Wall Street the day before (-1.3% on the Dow Jones, -1.8% on the Nasdaq Composite).
US equities suffered in particular from US producer prices, which rose more than expected in January, thus dispelling the prospect of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said 50 basis point rate hikes were warranted given the current economic environment, while acknowledging that it was better not to surprise the markets too much. .
The issue of US inflation should remain in focus this afternoon, with the release of import prices for January, followed by the Conference Board’s composite index of leading indicators.
Among the publications of the day in Europe, Allianz fell by almost 3% in Frankfurt, the operators not being satisfied with a net profit of 2022 up by 2% for the insurer, ‘thanks to the excellent performance of the activities P&C, health and life’.
Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, gained more than 3%, as the automaker saw its annual EPS increase by more than a third ‘thanks to a focus on attractive products and disciplined management of margins and costs’.
In Paris, investors warmly welcome the publications of the Air France-KLM company (+6%) and the video game publisher Ubisoft (+5%), but shun those of the satellite operator Eutelsat (-5% ) and the engineering company GTT (-8%).
