by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Tuesday against a backdrop of calm in the bond sector, while on Wall Street two of the three indices were practically stable at mid-session in a session marked mainly by results of companies, in the absence of macroeconomic indicators in the United States.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.65% to 7,638.97 points after two sluggish sessions. The British Footsie gained 0.9% and the German Dax 0.76%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index increased by 0.77%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.66% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.69%.

At the time of closing in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced by 0.13%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was practically unchanged (-0.06%) and the Nasdaq fell by 0.32%, the new technologies compartment being a victim profit taking.

The American indices are supported in particular by Dupont De Nemours (+6.77%), which on Tuesday beat the Wall Street consensus for the fourth quarter and announced a new share buyback program of one billion dollars.

The healthcare index on the S&P-500 (+0.47%) also offers support with forecasts from Eli Lilly and results from GE Healthcare Technologies (+11.27%).

In Europe, the positive trend was fueled by the unexpected increase in industrial orders in Germany in December and by support measures in China, including new restrictions on short selling and information according to which the Chinese president Xi Jinping is preparing to meet the country’s financial regulators.

VALUES IN EUROPE

In Paris, industrial and cyclical stocks such as Schneider (+2.76%), Airbus (+1.79%) and Stellantis (+1.70%) benefited from the surprise increase in industrial orders in Germany.

Stocks exposed to China such as Standard Chartered, HSBC and Prudential rose from 0.97% to 3.84%.

On the results side, BP (+5.46%) pulled up the entire oil sector (+2.11%) thanks to the announcement of a share buyback plan and a quarterly profit higher than the forecasts.

Its competitor TotalEnergies gained 1.82% on the eve of the publication of its quarterly accounts.

Infineon fell 3.04% after lowering its annual revenue forecast, while UBS dropped 4.44% after posting a fourth-quarter loss.

RATE The yield on the ten-year German Bund ended down 2.6 basis points, at 2.292% after a jump of almost ten points the day before.

The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds fell even more sharply, by almost six basis points, to 4.0981% after climbing 13 points on Monday.

CHANGES

The dollar depreciates, by 0.23%, against a basket of reference currencies, the day after an 11-week high, linked to the words of the President of the American Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, calling for “show caution” on the rate cuts expected by the markets.

The euro gained 0.09%, to 1.0751 dollars, while the pound sterling stood at 1.2587 dollars (+0.44%).

The decision by the Australian central bank to keep rates at a restrictive level supports the Australian dollar, which strengthens by 0.51% to 0.6515 US dollars.

OIL

The oil market is rising despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s tour of the Middle East to advance a proposed truce in the Gaza Strip.

Brent gained 1.13% to $78.87 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 1.15% to $73.62.

TO BE CONTINUED ON WEDNESDAY:

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)

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