by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended in the red on Thursday, while Wall Street was on a hesitant note at mid-session, investors awaiting the speech from the president of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), who could provide guidance on the trajectory of interest rates as U.S. bond yields continue to tighten.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 0.64% at 6,921.37 points. The British Footsie lost 1.07% and the German Dax lost 0.33%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index fell by 0.38% and the FTSEurofirst 300 by 1.19%. The Stoxx 600 fell 1.19% to a two-week low.

At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones gained 0.03%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 0.05% and the Nasdaq 0.15%.

Jerome Powell is due to speak from 4:00 p.m. GMT as part of a debate on the economic outlook before the Economic Club of New York. He should, according to analysts, declare that the Fed plans to leave its rates unchanged at its next meeting in two weeks, but that great uncertainty persists for the future.

Data released this week showed U.S. consumer demand remained strong and the labor market remained tight, with weekly jobless claims falling to their lowest level in nine months last week.

Home resales in September, however, fell to a 13-year low in September and business conditions in the Philadelphia region improved less than expected in October, mixed data that is fueling some volatility in the stock markets. .

The volatility index, a barometer of fear, gained 0.10% on Wall Street, to 19.24 points, while its European equivalent ended up 3.08%, to 22.30 points.

RATE

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose 3.6 basis points to 4.9321%, a new 16-year high, while the two-year rose to 5.259%, a 17-year high. the market fearing prolonged monetary tightening.

Over the week as a whole, the ten-year gained 35 basis points.

Ten-year and two-year German Bund yields followed the movement to end Thursday higher, at 2.925% and 3.261% respectively.

The Italian 10-year yield, considered a benchmark for the most indebted countries in the euro zone, reached its highest level in 11 years on Thursday, at 5.035%.

VALUES

Several company publications animated the discussions in Europe, starting with Renault, which ended down 7.33%. The diamond group published results impacted by currency effects.

Pernod Ricard, on the other hand, advanced 4.76% thanks to a forecast increase in its annual revenues.

Nokia dropped 6.44%, as the drop in demand for 5G equipment cut its third-quarter sales by a fifth.

Excluding results, Technip Energies plunged 13.75% after information from the daily Le Monde according to which the oil and gas company delayed its withdrawal from a Russian gas project to limit its financial losses, despite international sanctions against Russia.

CHANGES

The dollar fell 0.28% against a basket of reference currencies before Jerome Powell’s intervention but remains close to its recent highs.

The euro took the opportunity to regain 0.36% to 1.0573 dollars, while the pound sterling stood at 1.2144 dollars, up 0.03%.

OIL

The agreement between the opposition and the Venezuelan government which led the United States to temporarily lift sanctions affecting the Venezuelan oil sector weighs on crude prices: Brent falls by 0.14% to 91.37 dollars per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) lost 0.1% to 88.41 dollars.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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