(News Bulletin 247) – The main European stock markets are well oriented this morning, Frankfurt gaining nearly 0.7% ahead of Paris (+0.5%) and London (+0.1%).

The value of Brent continues to rise and the barrel is now trading against $85.3 (+0.6%) after OPEC announced yesterday that it would cut its daily production by one million barrels.
In a context where many uncertainties remain, gold regains its status as a safe haven and the ounce is now trading against $1,983 (+0.7%).

This morning, investors learned of a drop in producer prices in the euro zone. Thus, in February 2023, compared to January, industrial producer prices fell by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU, according to Eurostat estimates, after sequential declines 2.8% in the euro area and 2.3% in the EU in January.

Compared to February 2022, industrial producer prices increased by 13.2% in the euro area and by 14.5% in the EU, against annual variations of respectively +15.1% and +16.4 % observed in January.

Still on the economic indicators front, Germany achieved a trade surplus of 16 billion euros in February, according to data adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects from Destatis, a stable level compared to that recorded in January. (revised from 16.7 billion in initial estimate).

The eurozone’s largest economy exported goods worth a total of 136.7 billion euros and imported goods worth 120.7 billion in February, up 4% and 4.6% respectively from their levels of the previous month.

Markets are now awaiting US factory orders figures due this afternoon.

With energy stocks and consumer staples ‘outperforming’ the broader market in Europe and the UK, investors are anticipating further inflationary pressures, Liberum said.

In securities news, UBS is rolling out its service offer to Family Offices in France by creating a dedicated team. The group has appointed Emilie Jadat O’Shea and Cyril Zastawnik as joint managers of this service dedicated to French single Family Offices.

BAE Systems announced yesterday that it had received $491 million in contracts from Lockheed Martin to produce Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, dubbed Block 4, to power Batch 17 of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets. .

Finally, Aegon announces the sale of its personal protection portfolio in the United Kingdom to Royal London, a transaction in line with the strategy of refocusing the Dutch insurance group on its main activities in the country.

Copyright (c) 2023 News Bulletin 247. All rights reserved.