by Blandine Henault

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are expected to fall on Thursday at the opening amid persistent fears around banks and the economic situation in the United States.

According to the first indications available, the Parisian CAC 40 could lose 0.27% at the opening. Index futures are signaling a decline of 0.17% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 0.27% for the FTSE in London and 0.26% for the EuroStoxx 50.

The situation around the American regional bank First Republic Bank continues to worry after a report that the American government is not ready to oversee the rescue of the regional bank, which reported a sharp decline in deposits from its customers.

At the same time, mixed corporate results are fueling fears of an economic slowdown, particularly in the United States, ahead of monetary policy meetings with the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) next week.

In this context, investors will closely follow the publication, at 12:30 GMT, of the first estimate of US GDP for the first quarter. Economists polled by Reuters expect growth of 2% at an annualized rate after +2.6% the previous quarter.

A new rain of results will animate the rating in Europe, including Michelin, Sanofi, Pernod-Ricard, Unilever and Barclays.

AT WALL STREET

The New York Stock Exchange ended in mixed order on Wednesday, with only the Nasdaq finishing higher on the heels of Microsoft’s gains the day after the publication of its results, while worries about a slowdown in the American economy and the banking sector weighed on the session.

The Dow Jones index fell 0.68% to 33,301.87 points. The broader S&P-500 lost 0.38% to 4,055.99 points. The Nasdaq Composite advanced for its part by 0.47% to 11,854.35 points.

The US “tech” sector should still stand out today as Meta, Facebook’s parent company, soared 12% in after-market transactions after the publication of better than expected quarterly results.

Intel and Amazon will release their results on Thursday.

IN ASIA

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is almost stable as the close approaches, held back by the fall of Nomura after the bank reported a sharp drop in its quarterly net profit and the chipmaker Advantest after quarterly results below the expectations.

In mainland China and Hong Kong, indices are being held back by Sino-US geopolitical tensions after US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that Chinese cloud computing companies such as Huawei Cloud and Alibaba Cloud, could pose a security threat to the United States.

She said she would consider a request to add them to an export control list.

RATES/EXCHANGES

Movements are limited on the bond market: the yield on ten-year Treasuries gains two basis points, to 3.45%.

On the currency side, the euro remains close to a one-year high hit the previous day against the dollar – at 1.1095 – driven by the perception of greater resilience of the economy in the euro zone compared to the States States after Germany raised its growth forecasts.

The single currency is trading at $1.1054 (+0.11%).

OIL

Crude prices are moving forward after falling nearly 4% the day before amid fears for the US economy.

The barrel of Brent from the North Sea gained 0.3% to 77.90 dollars and that of American light crude (WTI) took 0.13% to 74.41 dollars.

(edited by Kate Entringer)

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