by Diana Mandia

(Reuters) – European stocks ended slightly higher after limiting their losses in the session despite renewed concerns about banks and after the release of mixed data on growth and inflation in Europe.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 0.1% at 7,491.5 points. The British Footsie gained 0.5% and the German Dax 0.77%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index, on the other hand, fell by 0.07%, while the FTSEurofirst 300 ended with a gain of 0.43% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.51%.

Over the week, the Stoxx 600 lost 0.56% and the CAC 40 1.1%, both ending five consecutive weeks in the green.

European stock exchanges will be closed Monday for Labor Day.

The European banking sector experienced renewed tensions on Friday after the results of the British bank NatWest, which reported a drop of 22.7 billion euros in deposits in the first quarter amid competition for savings intensifies in an environment of rising interest rates.

Bank deposits have come under increased scrutiny since the March bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), whose rapid collapse raised concerns about the health of the global banking sector.

The day was also marked by the publication of GDP figures for several European countries. Those from the show that the bloc’s economy barely grew in the first quarter and inflation remained elevated, bolstering expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will continue to tighten monetary policy after its end. May 4 meeting.

On the inflation front, inflation in harmonized consumer prices slowed more than expected in Germany in April, to its lowest level since the start of the war in Ukraine, while prices rose year on year in France and Spain, due in particular to the reduction or cessation of financial aid for energy tariffs.

VALUES

Banks, the bottom of the Stoxx index, fell 1.45%, with Natwest down 3.7% and sharp declines for Spanish and Italian banks such as Santander (-2.9%) and Unicredit (CRDI.MI > (-3.7%).

In Paris, BNP Paribas lost 0.2%.

In the results of the day, TF1 TFFP.PA (-7.1%), and Rémy Cointreau (-11.8%), the largest declines in the SBF 120, suffered after their publication of results, while the Swedish Electrolux ended with a 15.5% gain after reporting a weaker-than-expected quarterly loss.

DAILY INDICATORS

The publication of the inflation measure favored by the Fed, namely the “core PCE” index, confirmed on Friday that underlying inflationary pressures remain strong in the United States, despite a certain slowdown to 4.6% of the year-on-year index in March, which keeps the Fed on track for a 25 basis point interest rate hike next week.

Final results from the University of Michigan’s monthly survey also showed on Friday that US household sentiment improved in April.

AT WALL STREET

At the time of the close in Europe, the New York Stock Exchange turned upwards and the Dow Jones gained 0.50%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 0.41% and Nasdaq 0.07%, the good results of ‘Exxon and Intel softened the impact of the outlook for a slowdown in Amazon’s cloud business.

CHANGES

On the foreign exchange market, the euro, hit by lower than expected growth figures in the euro zone, returned to positive territory and gained 0.11 to 1.1043 dollars.

The “dollar index”, which measures the variations of the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose by 0.02%.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ), which left its ultra-low rate target unchanged on Friday, pushed the yen down 1.5% against the greenback.

RATE

Bond yields fell on Friday after their sharp surge the day before.

In the eurozone, ten-year German Bund yields fell more than 13 basis points to 2.32%.

The yield on ten-year US Treasuries fell 9 basis points to 3.43% and that of two years, the most sensitive to rates, lost 5 basis points to 4.039%, in particular after the publication of data from the inflation in the United States.

OIL

Oil prices rose on Friday while heading for a second weekly decline as disappointing US economic data and uncertainties over central bank monetary tightening weigh on demand prospects.

Brent LCOc1 fell 1.38% to $79.45 a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) CLc1 fell 2.15% to $76.37.

(Written by Diana Mandia)

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