by CORENTIN CHAPRON

PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to be hesitant at the opening on Wednesday, while European stock markets advance at mid-session, in a context of limited trading before Thanksgiving and as investors await new economic indicators.

Futures on New York indices suggest a mixed opening on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones expected to be hesitant, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 is expected to gain 0.12% and the Nasdaq 0.25%.

In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 0.41% to 7,259.14 points around 11:55 GMT, against the FTSE in London stable under pressure from the decline in Kingfisher, and an increase of 0.39% for the Dax in Frankfurt.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index gains 0.35%, compared to 0.33% for the EuroStoxx 50 and 0.36% for the Stoxx 600.

American markets will be closed on Thursday, and Friday’s session will be shortened for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Furthermore, the latest monetary policy report from the Federal Reserve published Tuesday evening, eagerly awaited by the markets, did not give any new strong indications on the trajectory of rates.

Members of the central bank’s board of governors agreed they could take a cautious approach on interest rates, saying further hikes would be necessary only if data suggested insufficient progress against inflation.

Several indicators are expected on Wednesday and Thursday, encouraging a wait-and-see attitude.

On Wednesday, weekly unemployment claims in the United States, the Michigan confidence index for the month of November and prices of durable goods are expected.

On Thursday, the PMI activity indicators in the euro zone will be published.

VALUES TO FOLLOW IN WALL STREET

Nvidia fell back in pre-market trading after reporting on Tuesday a turnover forecast above expectations for the fourth quarter, but said it anticipated sluggish sales in China.

VALUES TO FOLLOW IN EUROPE

Elior announced on Wednesday that it was profitable again after suffering the full brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing its stock to rise by 10.20%, despite forecasts below expectations for the 2023-2024 financial year.

Casino lowered its annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) target for France on Wednesday, for the second time in a month, due to a slower than expected recovery in activity in its hypermarkets. and the impact of its investments. The stock lost 1.45%.

Kingfisher, owner of the Castorama and Brico Dépôt brands, revised its annual profit forecast downwards on Wednesday for the second time in three months, while market trends turned out to be weaker than expected in France, and showed one worst performance of the Stoxx 600, down 6.20%.

Thyssenkrupp announced a 2.1 billion euro writedown of its steel division on Wednesday due to a “gloomy” outlook, highlighting the challenge of efforts to win Czech energy group EPH as part owner of the company, which brings the group down by 6.46%.

The British software publisher Sage soars 13.22%, leading the Stoxx 600, thanks to an 18% jump in its annual operating profit.

RATE

Yields are falling, as the minutes of the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting did not surprise the markets.

The ten-year Treasury rate dropped 4.1 bps to 4.377%, while the two-year rate was unchanged at 4.8739%.

The yield on the German ten-year fell by 2.2 bp to 2.535%, that of the two-year rate stood still at 2.977%.

CHANGES

The dollar is up slightly, in a wait-and-see environment.

The greenback advances 0.13% against a basket of reference currencies while the euro erodes 0.08% to $1.09.

The pound sterling is stable at 1.2532 dollars before the presentation by the British Minister of Finance of the draft budget.

OIL

Crude falls amid limited trading ahead of Thanksgiving, while market sources said Tuesday that U.S. oil stocks rose last week.

Brent lost 1.19% to 81.47 dollars per barrel, American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) lost 1.21% to 76.83 dollars.

(Written by Corentin Chappron, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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