by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets, apart from falling London, ended timidly in the green on Thursday after variously appreciated corporate results, while on Wall Street the rise was more marked at mid-session, driven in particular by Meta Platforms which overshadowed fears of slowing US GDP growth in the first quarter.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.23% to 7,483.84 points. The German Dax gained 0.03%. The British Footsie, on the other hand, lost 0.27%, penalized in particular by the financial publications of WPP (-4.26%) and Sainsbury (-3.45%).

The EuroStoxx 50 index 0.24%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.2% and the Stoxx 600 0.18%.

The equity markets, which have been moving on a cautious note since Monday pending inflation and economic indicators as well as the May monetary policy meetings of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE), rebounded slightly on Thursday, while around forty companies in Europe and the United States published their quarterly accounts.

In Europe, the values ​​of real estate (+0.84%), banks (+1.09%), industry (+1.3%) and new technologies (+0.52%) registered the largest gains, while energy (-1.02%) was among the largest declines.

VALUES IN EUROPE

In Paris, Schneider Electric (+3.89%) finished at the top of the CAC 40 after raising its annual outlook on Thursday following better-than-expected turnover for the first quarter. In contrast, Stmicroelectrics, at the bottom of the index, lost 8.72% due to concerns about its margin despite results and forecasts provided by the group exceeding expectations.

Publications from Sanofi (-0.66%), Universal Music Group (-6.64%) and TotalEnergies (-2.61%) were also poorly received.

On the SBF 120, Atos (+1.17%) and Aéroports de Paris (ADP) (+3.2%) achieved one of the best performances, the first thanks to the confirmation of its annual objectives, the second for having declared that this year it expects an Ebitda at least equal to that of 2019, the year of the start of the COVID-19 epidemic. Soitec, on the other hand, fell 15.42% after the announcement of the departure of its deputy general manager, Bernard Aspar.

Elsewhere in Europe, Deutsche Bank (+2.47%) and Barclays (+5.31%) lifted the banking sector with their respective quarterly profits better than expected, while in consumption, Unilever advanced 1 .37% thanks to higher-than-expected quarterly sales.

The session was also animated by the takeover bid by Deutsche Börse (-7.73%) on the Danish software group SimCorp (+38.28%) for 3.9 billion euros.

AT WALL STREET

At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced 0.92%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 1.21% and the Nasdaq 1.8%, with the indices also supported by corporate publications, at start with Meta Platforms which climbs 14.36%.

Facebook’s parent company reported on Wednesday quarterly sales up for the first time in nearly a year and a forecast for sales in the current quarter above expectations. Its competitors Snap and Pinterest took 4.09% and 3.34% respectively, while the communication services index jumped 5.39%, the best sectoral progress on the S&P-500.

The results of Comcast (+7.81%) are also welcomed, while Eli Lilly (+1.53%) benefits from the increase in its annual profit forecast.

Caterpillar, on the other hand, lost 2.79%, as concern over demand took precedence over quarterly results that beat expectations.

THE INDICATORS OF THE DAY

GDP growth in the United States slowed more than expected in the first quarter of 2023, to 1.1% according to the first estimate published by the Commerce Department.

Jobless claims fell in the United States last week to 230,000 from 246,000 (revised) the previous week.

CHANGES

The dollar rose moderately (+0.20%) against a basket of benchmark currencies after the US GDP data.

The euro fell 0.23% to 1.1015 dollars after brushing against the one-year high in the morning against the greenback, which hit Wednesday at 1.1096 dollars.

RATE

The yield of the ten-year German Bund advanced Thursday by 6.7 basis points to 2.45%, and that of two years by 6.3 points to 2.84%, on the eve of the publication of the figures of the inflation and growth in several euro area countries.

Money markets are pricing in a 70% chance of a 25 basis point ECB rate hike and a 30% chance of a 50 basis point hike next week, according to Refinitiv.

In the United States, the yields on ten-year and two-year Treasury bills rose by 8.3 points to 3.5109% and 14.2 points to 4.0621% respectively, with some analysts believing that the slowdown in growth should not dissuade the Fed from raising the cost of credit.

OIL

Oil prices rebounded after a drop of nearly 4% on Wednesday linked to concerns about the American economy: Brent rose 0.62% to 78.17 dollars a barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 0.63 % at $74.77.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)

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