by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended in mixed order on Thursday and Wall Street was also without clear direction at mid-session after a burst of contrasting company results while the indices are close to their record levels and yields bonds are rising.

In Paris, the CAC 40, driven by the luxury sector (+2%) after Kering’s quarterly accounts (+4.90%), ended with a gain of 0.71% to 7,665.63 points, more far from its historic high of 7,702.95 points. The German Dax gained 0.25% to 16,963.83 points against an absolute high of 17,049.52 points, touched on February 6. The British Footsie fell by 0.44%, penalized by the health sector.

The EuroStoxx 50 index rose by 0.61%, while the FTSEurofirst 300 fell by 0.04%. The Stoxx 600, down 0.09%, remained close to its record of 487.66 points.

At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones fell by 0.27%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 by 0.058%, while the Nasdaq advanced by 0.29%.

The S&P 500, which set a record Wednesday session at 4,999.89 points, once again came very close to the symbolic bar of 5,000 points on Thursday without however managing to break this technical resistance.

It was notably helped by Walt Disney which jumped 12.34% after its board approved a three billion dollar share buyback plan for the 2024 fiscal year.

ARM also stood out with a stock that soared 56.15%, thanks to its forecasts, pulling the semiconductor sector (+1.93%) and that of new technologies (+0.29 %) against a backdrop of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

Trade in Europe was driven by company results in several major sectors, notably in consumption (+1.87%) where Unilever (+3.15%) reported an increase in its sales in the fourth quarter.

AstraZeneca, whose profit fell below expectations in the fourth quarter, fell 6.35% and weighed on the health sector in Europe (-1.9%).

VALUES IN EUROPE

In the rest of the stocks in Europe, the results and forecasts of Publicis (+1.63%) and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (+4.75%) were applauded, while those of Crédit Agricole (-5.20% ), Société Générale (-0.96%) and Vinci (-0.76%) disappointed.

Siemens, which did better than expected in its first fiscal quarter, gained 0.96%, while Maersk plunged 14.69%, the group having warned that the saturation of the supply of container ships would affect its profit This year. Its competitor Hapag Lloyd’s fell 9.24%.

Adyen soared 21.34% thanks to a 2023 operating profit above expectations, dragging in its wake Worldline which gained 0.34%.

TODAY’S INDICATORS

Unemployment claims fell in the United States last week, to 218,000 against 227,000 (revised) the previous week, while the Reuters consensus was 220,000.

RATE

The yield on the ten-year German Bund ended with a gain of 5.5 basis points, at 2.354% in a context of downward revision of expectations of rate reduction from the European Central Bank (ECB) this year, to now 120 basis points against 130 forecast for Wednesday.

Two ECB officials, Philip Lane and Pierre Wunsch, also estimated on Thursday that the Frankfurt institution still needed additional evidence that inflation will indeed return to the 2% objective.

The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds increased by almost six basis points, to 4.154%, while several officials of the US Federal Reserve, like Thomas Barkin this Thursday, continue to urge patience on a possible reduction in the cost of credit.

CHANGES

The dollar strengthened by 0.12% against a basket of reference currencies, with the prospect of American key rates remaining at their current levels.

The euro is stable at $1.0771, while the pound sterling stands at $1.2618 (-0.06%).

OIL

Oil prices react to Israel’s rejection of Hamas’ ceasefire proposal: Brent rose by 2.5% to $81.19 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) by 2. 59% to $75.77.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Sophie Louet)

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