(News Bulletin 247) – The European stock markets start the week in a certain sluggishness (+0.2% in London, +0.1% in Frankfurt and -0.1% in Paris), especially since Wall Street remains closed all day for ‘Washington’s Birthday’.

‘The Fed’s monetary policy remains in the background in anticipation of several rate hikes, while the geopolitical climate remains tense elsewhere,’ warns Kiplink, pointing to the United States’ warning to China about the war in Ukraine.

No statistics were scheduled for Monday, but the coming days will notably see the flash PMI indices from S&P Global, the business climate indices in Germany (Ifo) and France (Insee), or even inflation in the eurozone.

In the United States, a second estimate of US GDP for the last quarter of 2022 is expected, as well as housing sales, but also household income and expenditure for the month of January.

As for corporate results, groups such as HSBC, Stellantis, Rio Tinto, Bouygues and BASF in Europe, as well as distributors such as Walmart and Home Depot across the Atlantic, must publish this week.

For now, Almirall has jumped 4% in Madrid, the pharmaceutical laboratory specializing in dermatology having reported annual results better than expected, despite prospects deemed a little disappointing by analysts.

In Frankfurt, Commerzbank dropped 3% when it was due to replace Linde in the DAX index next week, while Mercedes-Benz managed to gain 1% on the back of favorable comments from Stifel.

KBC loses 2% in Brussels, following an arbitration award of around 156 million euros imposed on the banking group in the context of a dispute concerning CSOB, its subsidiary in the Czech Republic.

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