by Laetitia Volga

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are expected to rise on Friday in the wake of Wall Street after the declarations of an official of the Federal Reserve (Fed) in favor of a moderate increase in interest rates.

First indications available suggest an increase of 0.36% for the Parisian CAC 40, 0.38% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 0.31% for the FTSE in London and 0.54% for the EuroStoxx 50 .

The Paris market has gained 1.35% since the start of the week and the broad European Stoxx 600 index has gained 0.51% in four sessions.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Chairman Raphael Bostic has called for a “slow and steady” quarter-point rate hike, adding that the impact of monetary tightening may only be tangible spring.

He further estimated that the Fed might be able to suspend its rate hikes by this summer.

Although he is not a voting member of the Fed’s monetary policy committee this year, his comments helped US stocks rebound on Thursday.

The “futures” on the New York indices are however in the red on Friday, a sign that investors remain cautious. Between now and the Fed meeting on March 22, several major indicators on inflation and the labor market in the United States will be published and could change mentalities on the trajectory of American rates.

VALUES TO FOLLOW:

AT WALL STREET

On Wall Street Thursday, the Dow Jones index gained 1.05% to 33,003.57 points, the S&P 500 gained 0.76% to 3,981.35 points and the Nasdaq Composite 0.73% to 11,462.98 points.

The ten-year Treasuries yield, which hit a four-month high of 4.091% after another drop in weekly jobless claims, pared its gains after statements from Raphael Bostic.

On the value side, Tesla lost 5.85% after a day of presentation to investors deemed disappointing.

Salesforce jumped 11.5% after a first-quarter revenue forecast beat expectations and the announcement of a doubling of the amount of a share buyback transaction.

The department store chain Macy’s also benefited from the publication of better than expected results for the holiday quarter, gaining more than 11%.

IN ASIA

Taking advantage of the rise on Wall Street on Thursday, the Nikkei index in Tokyo (+1.56%) closed at its highest level in nearly three months.

Among the main contributors to the growth of the Nikkei is the distributor Fast Retailing (+3.87%) which announced a 21% growth in same-store sales for its ready-to-wear brand Uniqlo in February compared to compared to last year.

Stock markets in China rose slightly, the Caixin/S&P Global monthly survey in the services sector in turn pleasing for a strong recovery in the world’s second largest economy.

The trend is also supported by the prospect of China announcing ambitious economic targets for this year at the annual session of the National People’s Congress which opens on Sunday.

“Everyone has their eyes on China’s growth target for 2023 and wonders if it will be 5%, 5.5% or even 6%. This figure will reflect the magnitude of the policy of government stimulus,” said Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer at Beijing Yunyi Asset Management.

The CSI index gained 0.29% and the SSEC in Shanghai 0.43%.

CHANGES

The dollar fell a little against a basket of major international currencies (-0.21%) in trade in Asia after statements by Raphael Bostic.

The euro, which lost 0.65% on Thursday, took the opportunity to recover 0.18% against the greenback at 1.0615.

RATE

Yields on US Treasury bonds fell to 4.0382% for ten-year securities and 4.8795% for two-year ones.

OIL

The oil market is losing ground but heading higher for the week as renewed optimism about the recovery in Chinese demand outweighs recession fears.

Brent fell 0.18% to 84.6 dollars a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 0.19% to 78.01 dollars.

MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS ON THE AGENDA FOR MARCH 3:

COUNTRY GMT INDICATOR PERIOD PREVIOUS CONSENSUS

FR 07:45 January production index +0.1% +1.1%

industrial

FROM 07:00 January trade balance €11.0bn €10.0bn

07:00 – January exports +1.5% -6.3%

07:00 – January imports +2% -6.1%

(Laetitia Volga, edited by Bertrand Boucey)

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