PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets, except Paris, are expected on a stable note on Friday at the opening after two consecutive sessions in the green, profit taking and a certain caution likely to dominate the exchanges with the coup d of the quarterly results season in the United States.
According to the first indications available, the Parisian CAC 40 should gain 0.32% at the opening, approaching the threshold of 7,000 points crossed in session Thursday for the first time since February 2022.
The Dax in Frankfurt could pick up 0.09% and the FTSE 100 in London 0.17%. The EuroStoxx 50 index is expected to rise by 0.1%.
Fourth quarter results from Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan are expected before the opening of trading on Wall Street.
According to data from Refinitiv, earnings for S&P-500 companies are expected to show a decline overall from 2021, amid slowing demand and high inflation.
The publication of consumer prices (CPI) in the United States nevertheless showed Thursday a deceleration in inflation in December, to 6.5% over one year after a peak of 9.1% in June. On a month-to-month basis, the CPI even fell (-0.1%) last month for the first time in more than two and a half years.
While this statistic partly relieved investors, the dynamism of the labor market in the United States, with weekly jobless claims posting an unexpected decline on Thursday, continues to arouse caution, with some analysts believing that it will be necessary to further tighten the cost credit so that it has an impact on employment and permanently removes the specter of a price-wage spiral.
A WALL STREET
The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Thursday, supported by consumer price figures in the United States.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.64%, or 216.24 points, to 34,189.25 points. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 13.48 points, or 0.34% to 3,983.09 points. The Nasdaq Composite advanced for its part by 69.43 points (0.64%) to 11,001.105, to a highest in one month, signing a fifth consecutive session in the green.
IN ASIA
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index ended down 1.25% at 26,119.52 points and the wider Topix lost 0.27% at 1,903.08 points.
In China, the Shanghai SSE Composite gained 1.01% and the CSI 300 gained 1.41%.
On the statistical side, China’s exports fell sharply in December, by 9.9% over one year, under the effect of the decline in world demand, while imports fell by 7.5% on an annual basis, against a backdrop of the resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic which weighed on domestic demand.
RATE
The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds, which fell more than 12 basis points on Thursday in response to the slowdown in inflation in the United States, resumed two points on Friday, to 3.46%.
In Japan, the yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds on Friday crossed the 0.5% ceiling set by the Bank of Japan as part of its yield curve control (YCC) policy. This is increasing the pressure on the central bank, which meets next week, to abandon its ultra-accommodative policy. The Japanese 10-year yield rose to 0.54%, its highest level since mid-2015.
In Europe, the ten-year German Bund yield fell two basis points to 2.14%, after losing six points on Thursday.
CHANGES
The dollar rose slightly on Friday, gaining (+0.02%) against a basket of six international currencies.
The Japanese currency is trading at 128.56 yen per dollar, up 0.51%, after hitting a new seven-month high at 128.65 in session.
The euro fell slightly to 1.0838 dollars (-0.07%), returning from a nine-month peak reached on Thursday.
OIL
Oil prices are stable on Friday and are heading for a gain of more than 6% for the week as a whole. They were driven by hopes of a lull in interest rates in the United States and signs of rising demand in China, the world’s largest consumer of rough.
Brent fell 0.1% to $83.95 a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) was stable at $78.39.
(Edited by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
