by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to see little change at the opening on Tuesday in the absence of macroeconomic indicators in the United States, while European stock markets are showing slight variations at mid-term, mainly reacting to data in from Germany, the prospect of a recovery plan in China and corporate results.
In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.28% to 7,611.02 points around 12:30 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax is almost stable (-0.06%) after gaining up to 0.38% in the morning before giving up its gains due to profit-taking in utilities. In London, the FTSE advances by 0.54%.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.13%, the Eurozone EuroStoxx 50 by 0.19% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.14%.
New York index futures report a drop of 0.10% for the Dow Jones, 0.07% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.05% for the Nasdaq the day after a session in the red where Wall Street was affected by the sharp rise in bond yields.
While no major indicator is on today’s agenda in the United States, the session could be animated by new interventions expected from officials of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), including that of Loretta Mester, voting member this year of the FOMC.
In Europe, the positive trend on the equity markets is fueled by the unexpected increase in industrial orders in Germany in December, which increased by 8.9% over one month on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is the largest monthly increase in more than three years.
China is also contributing to the good performance of stocks, the Bloomberg agency having reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to discuss the stock market with financial regulators, which revives hopes of a plan of massive recovery in the world’s second largest economy.
VALUES TO FOLLOW AT WALL STREET
Important publications in the pharmacy sector should animate Wall Street including Eli Lilly, which said it forecast a profit for this year above expectations, and Centene, which beat consensus on its fourth quarter turnover.
Ford and VF Corp are due to report quarterly results after the close.
VALUES IN EUROPE As in the United States, corporate news is rich, notably with BP (+5.46%) which is driving the entire oil sector (+1.78%). The British group, which has decided to accelerate its share buybacks, reported on Tuesday a profit of three billion dollars (2.8 billion euros) in the fourth quarter, exceeding forecasts.
In Paris, industrial and cyclical stocks such as Schneider (+1.82%), Legrand (+1.10%), Airbus (+1.43% and Stellantis (+0.92%) are sought after in the wake of the surprise increase in orders to industry in Germany.
Stocks exposed to China such as Standard Chartered, HSBC and Prudential rose from 0.70% to 2.71%.
On the downside, Infineon (-3.48%) is penalized by the reduction in its annual turnover forecast, while UBS falls by (-2.53%) after posting a loss in the fourth quarter.
RATE
The yield on the ten-year German Bund stabilizes at 2.335% after a gain of almost ten basis points the day before and a jump of 18 points over the last two sessions, the strongest in two days since March 2023.
The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds is also almost unchanged, at 4.1655% after an increase of 13 points on Monday.
CHANGES
The dollar rises again, by 0.07%, against a basket of reference currencies, close to an 11-week high, continuing to benefit from the comments of the president of the American Federal Reserve on “caution” on declines in rates expected by the markets.
The euro lost 0.13%, to 1.0727 dollars, while the pound sterling stood at 1.2542 dollars (+0.08%).
The Australian dollar strengthened by 0.11% to 0.6489 US dollars, the RBA, Australia’s central bank, having decided on Tuesday to maintain its main key rate at a 12-year high, at 4.35%.
OIL
The oil market is rising slightly as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Cairo on Tuesday amid a push by the United States to advance a proposed truce in Gaza.
“Signs of a de-escalation of the crisis in the Middle East are lacking and continue to provide some support to oil prices,” notes Priyanka Sachdeva, market analyst at Phillip Nova.
Brent rose 0.6% to $78.46 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose 0.58% to $73.20.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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