by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended lower on Wednesday and Wall Street was also in the red at the end of the morning in New York, the stock markets having lost all their initial gains as the session progressed.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 0.03% at 7,071.79 points. The British Footsie lost 0.46% and the German Dax lost 0.25%.

If the EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.05%, the FTSEurofirst 300 fell by 0.16%. The Stoxx 600, which is in the red for a fifth consecutive session, lost 0.19%, after posting a timid rebound in the morning thanks to cheap purchases and a brief drop in bond yields.

In this hesitant session, investors searched in vain for direction before opting for caution on the eve of key macroeconomic indicators.

“When markets are falling fairly quickly, and have been for some time, bargain hunters come in and periodically buy stocks,” said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

The first monthly inflation figures in Germany will be published on Thursday before those for the entire euro zone on Friday. In the United States, the PCE price index in the United States, the preferred measure of inflation by the American Federal Reserve (Fed), is expected on the same day.

A WALL STREET

At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones fell by 0.41%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 by 0.23% and the Nasdaq by 0.14%, the rebound in new technologies (-0.33%) having fizzles out. The energy compartment (+2.03%) however limits the decline.

Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, sensitive to changes in interest rates, fell by 0.43% to 1.140%, while Amazon (-1.2939%) continued its slide from the day before following the announcement of the filing of a legal complaint by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for abuse of dominant position.

Costco Wholesale (+1.70%) is driven by better-than-expected quarterly results, while Mrriott (+1.76%) is optimistic about its revenue per room growth forecasts by 2025.

VALUES IN EUROPE

Dutch insurer NN Group suffered the biggest drop in the Stoxx 600, plunging 18.3% after a warning following an unfavorable court ruling on its insurance policies. Its competitor ASR Nederland NV fell by 13.87%, while the European insurance index fell by 1.68%.

UBS dropped 2.91% after information on possible breaches in the United States which would have allowed Russian clients to circumvent sanctions.

On the rise, H&M gained 3.39% thanks to a better-than-expected quarterly profit.

In Paris, TotalEnergies gained 1.64% after announcing a $9 billion (€8.53 billion) share buyback plan for this year.

Teleperformance (-2.97%) finished at the bottom of the CAC 40, victim of the lowering of UBS’s recommendation to “neutral”, which fears an impact of artificial intelligence on the call center sector.

TODAY’S INDICATORS

The household confidence index in France fell in September, to 83 points, according to INSEE.

Growth in bank loans to businesses and households in the euro zone slowed to near stagnation in August, ECB data shows.

German companies are less inclined to hire new employees in September, according to data from the Ifo institute, which revives fears of recession in Europe’s largest economy.

RATE

At the close of stock markets in Europe, the yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds, still close to a 16-year high, oscillated between 4.573% and 4.491%, a sign of investors’ hesitations on the trajectory of rates.

While waiting for an intervention from Fed President Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Minneapolis branch, Neel Kashkari, said on Wednesday that he was not yet certain that the central bank had finished raising its interest rates so that there is ample evidence of the strength of the economy.

In a note, Bank of America Global Research strategists, for their part, said on Wednesday they anticipated an American ten-year rate at 5% and which could remain at this level in a context of economic resilience.

In the euro zone, the yield on the ten-year German Bund, which has been at a peak since 2011, fluctuated from 2.838% to 2.772%, before closing up 3.3 basis points.

CHANGES

The dollar advances 0.32% against a basket of benchmark currencies, to a new ten-month high, as investors bet that the US economy will remain stronger than others in a context of interest rates. high interest rates and soaring energy prices.

The euro is at 1.052 dollars after falling during the session to 1.05125 dollars, a low since January 6.

The pound sterling is trading at $1.2139 after hitting $1.21310, the lowest since March 17.

OIL

The oil market is benefiting from fears of a supply deficit at the end of the year: Brent rose 2.68% to $96.48 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose 3.52%. at $93.57.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean Terzian)

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