by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended lower on Thursday in a consolidation movement after the previous day’s gains, while Wall Street posted a mid-session rebound, supported by indicators confirming market expectations of a decline in US Federal Reserve rate next year.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 0.16% at 7,571.4 points. The British Footsie and the German Dax both fell 0.27%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index fell by 0.21%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.24% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.22%.

The trend in Europe was weighed down by the automobile sector (-0.82%), in a context of doubts about the evolution of the economy in the euro zone, and by the real estate sector (-0.82%), 77%), sensitive to variations in rates.

A WALL STREET

At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced by 0.45%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 by 0.60% and the Nasdaq by 0.81% the day after a session marked by significant clearings in sight. profit taking while the S&P-500 is close to a “bull market”.

Indices on Wall Street are supported by three economic indicators which reflect a slowdown in economic activity in the United States: the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter was revised downward to 4.9% at an annualized rate, the Philly Fed index fell to -10.5 in December and jobless claims increased to 205,000 last week, a sign of easing tensions in the job market.

The technology news index on Wall Street takes 0.68% and that of semiconductors 2.32% thanks to forecasts from Micron Technology (+7.26%), which anticipates quarterly turnover at – above expectations. In its wake, Nvidia AMD, Qualcomm and Intel advance from 1.10% to 1.83%.

VALUES IN EUROPE

Axa (+0.51%) finished in the green thanks to a reinsurance agreement on a life insurance portfolio.

Commerzbank rose 1.33% as the German bank received authorization from the ECB to buy back up to 600 million euros of its shares.

Philips lost 2.51% as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the health authority in the United States, classified the recall of its medical imaging devices in the category of the most serious incidents.

EXCHANGES The dollar fell by 0.52% against a basket of international currencies on the eve of the publication of the PCE price index in the United States, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.

The euro is trading at $1.0989 (+0.47%) and the pound sterling at $1.2667 (+0.24%).

RATE

The ten-year German Bund yield fell 2.3 points to 1.965%, the lowest since March, and the two-year yield fell 2.4 points to 2.457%. The markets ignored the comments of Luis de Guindos, the vice-president of the European Central Bank (ECB), who considered it premature to talk about a rate cut.

In the United States, the yields on these two maturities are generally stable, at 3.8788% and 4.3473% respectively.

OIL

Oil is falling as U.S. crude inventories rise last week, while Angola announced Thursday its decision to withdraw from OPEC amid disagreement among member countries over further production cuts black gold.

Brent lost 1.04% to $78.87 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) lost 1.15% to $73.37.

TO BE CONTINUED FRIDAY:

(Written by Claude Chendjou)

Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters