by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets, apart from Frankfurt, ended higher on Wednesday and Wall Street was also oriented in the green at mid-session, investors continuing to digest the generally solid results published by companies for the second quarter.

In Paris, the CAC 40, driven in particular by luxury, ended with a gain of 0.11% to 7,326.94 points. The UK Footsie advanced 1.80%. The German Dax, penalized among other things by industrial stocks, fell by 0.1%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index fell 0.17%. The FTSEurofirst 300 gained 0.17% and the Stoxx 600 0.26%, the second consecutive session of gains for this index.

At the time of closing in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced 0.52%, heading for an eighth consecutive session in the green. The Standard & Poor’s 500 takes 0.41% and the Nasdaq 0.4%.

The positive trend on Wall Street is still driven by banks, which have generally benefited from the rapid rise in the cost of credit. The sector index on the S&P 500 gained 1.74% after the quarterly publications of Bank of America (+2.76%), Morgan Stanley (+1.26%), JPMorgan Chase (+0.73%) and Wells Fargo (+1.58%).

Goldman Sachs advances by 1.58% despite a decline in its profit in the second quarter, while the regional banks Citizens Financial (+5.49%) and M&T Bank (+3.29%) are sought after results above expectations.

“We have a lot of big banks that have published and the results have been pretty good so far. (Goldman) is probably the first counterexample,” notes Dennis Dick, market analyst at Triple D Trading.

The new technologies compartment is also supporting the trend as Tesla (+1.28%), Netflix (+0.46%) and IBM (+0.11%) are due to publish their financial accounts after the close.

VMware, which jumped 5.46%, benefits from the provisional green light from London to the merger agreement with Broadcom (+0.007%).

VALUES IN EUROPE

In Paris Kering (+7.36%), which carried out a reshuffle at the head of Gucci, its flagship brand, with the appointment of Jean-François Palus as interim CEO, pulled the CAC 40.

Renault (+0.98%) also carried the Parisian index after reporting an increase in sales volume over the first six months of the year.

Elsewhere in Europe, the ASML action, volatile, ended down 1.85%, despite an increase in the group’s forecasts.

From a sector perspective, basic resources (-1.09%) saw one of the biggest declines on the Stoxx 600 due to the lowered Antofagasta copper production forecast (-1.36%).

THE INDICATORS OF THE DAY

Inflation in the euro zone was confirmed by Eurostat to be slowing to 5.5% year on year in June, while in Britain it fell more than expected last month to its lowest level in more than a year, at 7.9%.

CHANGES

The dollar rebounded strongly on Wednesday (+0.39%) from a 15-month low against a basket of benchmark currencies after inflation figures in Europe.

The euro is trading at 1.1193 (-0.29%) and the pound sterling at 1.2899 dollar (-1.04%).

RATE

Eurozone bond yields ended higher after their recent sharp decline, with the ten-year German Bund rising nearly five basis points to 2.405% amid caution.

“Investors are likely waiting for macroeconomic events next week, particularly the ECB meeting, before increasing their exposure,” said Francesco Di Bella, rates strategist at Unicredit.

The yield on US Treasuries of the same maturity is stable at 3.7854%.

OIL

Oil prices are supported by China’s commitment to implement policies to “restore and expand” domestic consumption, which could boost demand for oil. Crude stocks in the United States also fell last week according to figures released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA).

Brent rose 0.79% to 80.26 dollars a barrel and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 0.53% to 76.15 dollars.

TO BE FOLLOWED ON THURSDAY:

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)

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