by Blandine Henault

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are expected to fall on Wednesday at the opening, in the wake of Wall Street and Asia, against a backdrop of new fears for banks and for the economy before several major meetings in the next days.

According to the first indications available, the Parisian CAC 40 could lose 0.55% at the opening. Futures contracts signal a decline of 0.47% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 0.37% for the FTSE in London and 0.6% for the EuroStoxx 50.

Wall Street ended Tuesday with a marked decline – the largest recorded in April – after several disappointing corporate results, including those of UPS, which fueled fears about the economy, and those of the First Republic bank. Bank, which rekindled concerns about the sector.

The futures on the American indices however signal a rebound for the opening on Wednesday, in particular for the Nasdaq, after the results superior to expectations of the two giants of “tech”, Alphabet and Microsoft.

The context is generally cautious as data on inflation and GDP in Europe and the United States are due to be published this week before the monetary policy meetings of several major central banks next month.

VALUES TO FOLLOW:

A new burst of results publications in Europe will animate the session, including Safran, Danone, Orange or Unilever and Barclays.

AT WALL STREET

The Dow Jones index fell 1.02% on Tuesday evening to 33,530.83 points. The broader S&P-500 lost 1.58% to 4,071.63 points while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.98% to 11,799.16 points.

Futures on these three indices are signaling an increase on Wednesday of 0.12% for the Dow, 0.45% for the S&P and 1.3% for the Nasdaq.

IN ASIA

The Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 0.72% as the close approached, in the wake of Wall Street and amid a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the start of the Japanese corporate earnings season on Thursday and the monetary policy decision of the Bank of Japan on Friday, which will be the first led by new Governor Kazuo Ueda.

Stock markets in mainland China fell slightly ahead of the five-day “May Day” holiday period.

On the other hand, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a strong technological content, advanced by 0.72%, with the expected rebound of the Nasdaq.

RATES/EXCHANGES

Economic fears pushed the yield on two-year US Treasury bonds down 18.7 basis points on Tuesday. He took up only three points on Wednesday, at 3.93%.

The ten-year one fell by nearly 12 basis points the day before, its biggest daily decline in more than a month, and was almost stable on Wednesday, at 3.4%.

The dollar jumped 0.5% on Tuesday against a basket of benchmark currencies and held onto its gains on Wednesday.

As a result, the euro fell back to $1.0980, after peaking above 1.10 the previous day.

OIL

Crude prices rebound after falling more than 2% the day before, with figures reported by market sources at the American Petroleum Institute (API) on inventories putting renewed emphasis on strong demand in the States States, first consumer of black gold.

The barrel of Brent from the North Sea gained 0.47% to 81.15 euros and that of American light crude (WTI) advanced by 0.6% to 77.55 euros.

(edited by Bertrand Boucey)

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