PARIS (Reuters) – European stocks fell again on Thursday, as worries over talks of the U.S. debt ceiling outweighed the rise in technology stocks after the results of the American Nvidia.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.33% to 7,229.27 points, its lowest closing level since the end of March. The British Footsie dropped 0.74% and the German Dax 0.31%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.14%, the FTSEurofirst 300 fell 0.21% and the Stoxx 600 fell 0.32%.
Wall Street was in dispersed order at mid-session, with the Dow Jones down 0.55%, the S&P-500 gaining 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.42%.
The latter, with a strong technological component, benefits from the 26.80% increase of Nvidia, which reported forecasts deemed exceptional by analysts for the field of artificial intelligence.
In its wake, major AI players like Microsoft and Alphabet gained 3.13% and 2.45% respectively; the Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s semiconductor index (+5.72%) was at its highest level in more than a year.
In Washington, Democratic and Republican negotiators have made progress in discussions on raising the federal debt ceiling, said Kevin McCarthy, the main Republican leader in Congress. But with no bipartisan deal looming at the moment, traders remain wary of a possible default in early June.
According to a Reuters source, President Joe Biden and House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy are close to reaching a deal on the US debt ceiling, with the positions of the two camps now only $ 70 billion apart. for discretionary spending.
The rating agency DBRS Morningstar also placed its triple A rating of the United States under surveillance on Thursday for a possible degradation, less than 24 hours after a similar warning from Fitch.
In economic news, Germany officially entered a technical recession at the start of the year, with GDP shrinking 0.3% in the first quarter after falling 0.5% in the fourth quarter.
Among other statistics of the day, growth in the United States was revised up to 1.3% in the first quarter and the number of jobless claims rose slightly last week.
VALUES
The compartment of technology stocks recorded the strongest rise with a gain of 1.74% in the wake of the American Nvidia. Of its component stocks, ASML climbed 4.97% in Amsterdam.
The energy sector (-2.24%) suffered from the drop in oil prices: TotalEnergies lost 3.27%; BP and Shell -2.37% and -2.17%.
CHANGES
The announcement of a recession in Germany affects the euro, which yields 0.27% to 1.0719 dollars.
The greenback (+0.31%), a safe haven par excellence, is benefiting from fears of a default of payment by the United States and is moving to its highest since mid-March against a basket of major currencies.
ING analysts argue that the dollar is also supported by expectations – bolstered by the Fed’s minutes – of another hike in US interest rates this summer in the face of still high inflation.
RATES The yield on ten-year US Treasuries takes nearly six basis points to 3.7883%, close to a peak in more than two months, and its German equivalent, a benchmark for the euro zone, ended higher at 2.488%.
OIL
The oil market is down sharply as Russian Deputy Energy Prime Minister Alexander Novak dismissed the prospect of further OPEC+ supply cuts at the June 4 meeting.
WTI stood at $71.38 (-3.98%) and Brent at $75.48 (-3.68%).
They had gained more than 3% over the previous two sessions after the Saudi Minister of Energy warned against investors betting on a drop in prices.
TO BE CONTINUED :
(Laetitia Volga, edited by Nicolas Delame)
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