by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Wednesday and Wall Street was also in the green at mid-session thanks to a renewed lull in the bond sector, investors having digested the surprise acceleration of the inflation in the United States.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.68% to 7,677.35 points, approaching its historic peak of 7,702.95 points. The British Footsie advanced 0.75% and the German Dax gained 0.38%, around a hundred points from its record of 17,049.52 points.

The EuroStoxx 50 index increased by 0.43%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.46% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.46%.

The session was dominated by cheap purchases the day after the sharp decline in the indices following the publication on Tuesday of consumer price statistics (CPI) in the United States which showed a surprise acceleration in inflation over one month in January at +0.3%.

The President of the Chicago Fed, Austan Goolsbee, on Wednesday invited the markets not to overinterpret the data: “Let’s not get upset when we record a CPI over a month higher than expectations”, he declared during an event organized by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “You have to measure in increments of three months, six months, twelve months. If we do that, it is quite clear that inflation is falling,” he added.

Investors were also reassured by British price data, with inflation falling below consensus in January at 4.0% year-on-year.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he was encouraged by the statistic, as it showed greater downward pressure than the central bank had anticipated.

A WALL STREET

At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced by 0.03%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 by 0.33% and the Nasdaq by 0.46%, the indices rebounding from a low of more than a week touched Tuesday. The Dow is in demand after recording its worst session in 11 months the day before.

In terms of values, Nvidia, up 0.71%, overtook Alphabet (-0.39%) in terms of market capitalization thanks to the frenzy on artificial intelligence. The title of the semiconductor manufacturer has gained 231% over the last 12 months, allowing it to be valued at 1,812 billion dollars, compared to 3,002 billion for Microsoft (+0.04%), 2,830 billion for Apple (-0). .82%) and 1.760 billion for Alphabet.

In spectacular progressions, Lyft soared 30.62% after an adjusted quarterly profit higher than forecasts, while its competitor Uber Technologies jumped 11.49% thanks to the announcement of a share buyback plan. shares of seven billion dollars.

VALUES IN EUROPE

Capgemini gained 6.84%, at the top of the CAC 40, after better than expected quarterly turnover.

ABN Amro climbed 6.74% thanks to a quarterly profit above expectations, while Delivery Hero jumped 19.64%, its generation having reassured.

On the downside, Heineken lost 6.31% and Thyssenkrupp 10.53% due to their forecasts.

TUI dropped 6.82% after shareholders decided to vote in favor of abandoning the tour operator’s listing in London to focus solely on Frankfurt.

TODAY’S INDICATORS

Industrial production in the euro zone increased unexpectedly over one month in December, by 2.6%, thanks in particular to capital goods, Eurostat data show.

Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) showed zero growth in the fourth quarter, according to Eurostat.

RATE

The yield on the ten-year German Bund ended down more than four basis points on Wednesday, at 2.341%, after rising to a near 11-week high on Tuesday, at 2.415%, following the data on the consumer prices in the United States.

That of American Treasury bonds of the same maturity fell by almost five points, to 4.2711%, after having reached a high of more than two months the day before, at 4.3320%.

CHANGES

The dollar fell 0.11% against a basket of benchmark currencies, but remained close to a three-month high.

The euro increased by 0.16%, to 1.0726 dollars.

The pound sterling dropped 0.29%, to 1.2552 dollars, with the market now anticipating with a probability of 75% a rate cut from the Bank of England in August after the British inflation figures.

OIL

Oil prices are being penalized by the rise in US crude stocks which jumped last week by 12 million barrels to 439.5 million, according to figures from the Energy Information Administration, while analysts polled by Reuters predicted a increase of only 2.6 million barrels.

Brent fell 0.54% to $82.32 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) lost 0.67% to $77.35.

TO BE CONTINUED THURSDAY:

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Bertrand Boucey)

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