by Laetitia Volga
PARIS (Reuters) – Most European stock markets ended slightly lower on Tuesday, as the evolution of the pandemic and the political climate in the United States urged caution despite the expectation of a massive fiscal stimulus from the future administration of Joe Biden.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.2% to 5,650.97 points. The British Footsie fell 0.65%, penalized by the appreciation of the pound sterling, and the German Dax dropped 0.08%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index fell 0.23%, the FTSEurofirst 300 advanced 0.04% and the Stoxx 600 0.05%.
The health situation remains critical around the world, raising fears of a slowdown in an already fragile economic recovery.
In Germany, Angela Merkel expects the containment in force in Germany to be maintained until early April, the Bild daily reported on Tuesday.
The Governor of the Bank of England said he was worried about the British economy and in France, Bruno Le Maire estimated that the forecast for growth of 6% this year was a “challenge”.
“Investors are certainly more cautious about the short-term impact of the new lockdowns, but the market is better prepared to deal with it than during the first lockdown,” said Michael Baker, analyst at ETX Capital.
Beyond health and economic concerns, proceedings launched by Democrats against Donald Trump after his supporters’ assault on Capitol Hill have also affected the trend.
VALUES
On the stock market, the utilities sector showed the largest drop of the day (-1.49%) and, conversely, that of the automobile the largest increase (+ 1.73%).
Renault gained 1.74% after announcing to target profitability by increasing its most profitable sales after a black year in 2020 for its commercial results because of the coronavirus.
Eramet sold 8.37% after declaring that the situation of its Caledonian subsidiary SLN was critical at the start of the year in “a very troubled societal context” despite the progress of the rescue plan.
A WALL STREET
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones and the S & P-500 were stable at the time of the European close while the Nasdaq gained around 0.4%.
General Motors climbed 4.21% after announcing the launch of electric delivery vehicles under the new BrightDrop brand of which FedEx will be the first customer.
RATE
The prospect of widening budget and trade deficits in the United States in the coming months continues to encourage the rise in yields on Treasury bills: that of ten-year securities rises for the seventh session in a row and takes 4.5 basis points above 1.18%.
In its wake, the ten-year-old German, reference for the area euro, hit a two-month high at -0.464%.
Italian rates rose even more sharply for fear of a new political crisis in Italy in the midst of a pandemic.
The President of the Italian Council, Giuseppe Conte, is meeting his government this Tuesday at 20:30 GMT to try to avoid the defection of Italia Viva from her coalition.
The 10-year Italian BTP yield gained nearly nine points to 0.63%.
FOREX Quiet session on the forex side where the dollar is stable against a basket of international currencies and theeuro evolves around 1.216.
The pound sterling nevertheless stands out with a gain of over 0.7% against the greenback and theeuro, supported by the statements of Andrew Bailey, the governor of the BoE, seeming to rule out the use of negative rates, which could among other things harm the banks.
OIL
Oil prices are moving to peaks of nearly a year, with limited supply and expectations of a drop in US stocks offsetting concerns about the pandemic.
A barrel of Brent gained 1.6% to 56.55 dollars and that of American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 1.47% to 53.02 dollars.
(Laetitia Volga, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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