by Laetitia Volga

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are expected to rise on Wednesday at the opening ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcements.

The first indications available point to an increase of 0.53% for the Parisian CAC 40, 0.45% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 0.37% for the FTSE in London and 0.49% for the EuroStoxx 50.

Investors are confident that the Fed will announce at 6:00 p.m. GMT, after two days of meetings of its monetary policy committee (FOMC), a quarter-point hike in the federal funds rate target for the increase to 5%-5.25%.

Investors are also waiting for clues from the US central bank on its monetary tightening campaign, with the possibility that it suggests that this hike will be the last – at least, in the short term.

VALUES TO FOLLOW:

AT WALL STREET

U.S. stock markets ended lower on Tuesday as banks pulled back amid financial sector fears as investors tried to price in the line the Fed will take in its rate hike campaign .

The Dow Jones index fell 1.08%, or 367.17 points, to 33,684.53 points, the broader S&P-500 fell 48.29 points, or 1.16%, to 4,119.58 points. and the Nasdaq Composite fell 132.09 points (1.08%) to 12,080.51 points.

In the wake of the bankruptcy of First Republic Bank, most of whose assets were acquired by JPMorgan in a deal closed on Monday, stocks of regional US banks continued to fall.

PacWest Bancorp.O tumbled 27.8%, while Western Alliance Bank and Comerica lost 15.1% and 12.4% respectively.

Adding to concerns, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the federal government may be unable to meet all of its financial obligations by June 1 if no action is passed by Congress to raise the cap. US debt.

The hypothesis of a default on the debt of the United States caused a drop in oil prices, dragging down energy which recorded, with -4.3%, the largest drop among the major sectors of the world. S&P-500, just ahead of financials, down 2.3%.

Futures are currently signaling a moderate higher open.

IN ASIA

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed for three days due to “Golden Week”, a succession of public holidays.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.6%, ending a streak of four positive sessions, as investors feared that the slowing US economy and problems at the country’s regional banks could impact growth. Asia.

CHANGES

The dollar remains on a downward trend, hurt by unfavorable US labor market data, US debt ceiling and banking sector fears.

Against a benchmark basket, the greenback lost 0.24%.

Meanwhile, the euro is up 0.2% at 1.1021.

OIL

Oil prices are stable, the prospect of a rate hike in the United States having been priced in by the market.

Brent nibbled 0.05% to 75.36 dollars a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) dropped 0.03% to 71.64 dollars.

(Editing by Kate Entringer)

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