PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Wednesday, with banking and oil stocks rising, while Wall Street lost ground within 24 hours of monthly US inflation figures.
In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.72% to 7,322.04 points. The British Footsie advanced 0.8% and the German Dax 0.49%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index ended up 0.66%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.38% and the Stoxx 600 0.43%.
The Italian government reassured investors by announcing that the new tax on banks’ profits would not exceed 0.1% of their total assets, while Citi analysts feared a higher rate.
The lower than expected level of this tax helped boost banking stocks in Europe, the index of which recovered 1%, erasing part of its decline on Tuesday.
Signs of deflation in China, where the consumer price index fell last month for the first time in more than two years, have in this context been relegated to the background.
On Wall Street, the major stock indices are in the red, the S&P-500 dropping 0.78% on the eve of the publication of inflation in the United States in July. The CPI index should show a slight acceleration of 3.3% year on year, according to the Reuters consensus.
VALUES
On the stock market, the energy sector (+2.27%) posted the biggest increase of the day with the rise in oil prices. TotalEnergies thus took 3.41%, leading the Parisian CAC, ahead of Société Générale (+1.31%) and BNP Paribas (+1.37%).
In Milan, bank securities were also surrounded after the government of Giorgia Meloni calmed the game on the tax on windfall profits of banks. Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco BPM, UniCredit and FinecoBank took between 2.33% and 7.12%.
RATES/EXCHANGES
On the government bond market, yields on US securities fell slightly ahead of a large issue of ten-year debt by the Treasury, which will test demand.
The yield of ten years is displayed at 4%, down two basis points.
The dollar is stable against the other major currencies and the euro is back at 1.0976 (+0.2%).
OIL
On the oil side, the announcement by the US Energy Information Agency of a drop in crude inventories across the Atlantic last week offset concerns about the slowdown in Chinese demand.
Brent gained 0.96% to $87 a barrel after peaking at $86 since late January.
US light crude, which hit a high since November at $84.65, is now at 83.79, still up more than 1%.
(Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)
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