PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are trending downward on Tuesday in the first trades against a backdrop of resurgent concerns about interest rates, several officials of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) having reaffirmed that they would remain restrictive.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.50% to 7,032.82 points around 07:35 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 fell by 0.10% and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell by 0.48%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index lost 0.44% and the FTSEurofirst 300 0.38%. The Stoxx 600 is down 0.36%, the second consecutive session in the red since the start of the fourth quarter, after a brief improvement at the end of the third quarter.

Futures contracts on Wall Street are also forecasting a decline the day after a scattered session.

Michelle Bowman, one of the Fed’s governors, said Monday she was prepared to vote in favor of another rate hike if economic data showed too slow or insufficient progress in the fight against inflation.

In his wake, other Fed officials such as Michael Barr, Loretta Mester and Thomas Barkin generally agreed in the same direction while the yield on ten-year Treasuries climbed Monday to a new 16-year high. On Tuesday, it fluctuated between 4.704% and 4.674%.

In the euro zone, Philip Lane, the chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), stressed on Tuesday that the rise in wages contributed to the maintenance of high domestic inflation in the monetary bloc and that we would have to wait until Easter 2024 to determine if wage growth slows.

In terms of economic statistics, investors are awaiting at 12:30 GMT the results of the Jolts survey on job offers in August in the United States, the first of the major indicators on the labor market expected this week before the publication of the official monthly report on Friday. on American employment.

On the pan-European Stoxx 600, the basic resources (-1.13%) and energy (-0.71%) sectors suffered one of the biggest sectoral declines against a backdrop of strong dollar and tensions on the bond market.

In terms of individual values, Sanofi is in the green, bucking the trend, after the announcement of a partnership with J&J on a vaccine candidate against E.Coli.

Zalando fell 2.5%, Deutsche Bank having lowered the group’s adjusted Ebit forecast and its price target.

British online fashion retailer Boohoo plunges 8.29% in reaction to the announcement of a 17% fall in its turnover for the half-year ended at the end of August and gloomy forecasts for the entire exercise.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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