by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to rise at the opening on Wednesday and European stock markets rebound mid-session, the slowdown in inflation in Great Britain offsetting fears arising from the acceleration in consumer prices in the United States, which results in a slight easing in the bond compartment.
Futures on New York indices signal an opening on Wall Street up 0.23% for the Dow Jones, 0.36% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.54% for the Nasdaq the day after a sharp decline in indices against a backdrop of high inflation in the United States.
In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.43% to 7,658.18 points around 11:20 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax rose 0.2% and in London, the FTSE gained 0.85%.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.38%, the EuroStoxx 50 of the euro zone 0.29% and the Stoxx 600 0.39%.
The stock markets were shaken on Wednesday by the publication of consumer prices in the United States which showed an acceleration over one month in January to +0.3% after an increase of 0.2% (revised) while the consensus expected +0.2%.
This persistence of inflation raises fears that the American Federal Reserve (Fed) will delay until June the date of the first cut in its key rates.
Nomura economists estimated after the publication of US inflation figures that the European Central Bank (ECB) would not be able to cut its rates in April. Euro zone inflation figures will be published next week.
The data published this Wednesday in the United Kingdom, however, reassured investors a little since inflation came out below consensus in January, at 4.0% over one year.
“The UK economy is fragile and the labor market has relaxed significantly over the last year. These are all reasons to cut (Bank of England) rates,” said Michael Field, strategist European markets at Morningstar.
ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said inflation in the currency bloc appeared to be returning to 2%, although more data is needed before the institution can be sure monetary tightening is having its effects .
VALUES TO FOLLOW AT WALL STREET
Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates, bounced from 0.3% to 1.6% in pre-market trading with the easing in the bond market.
Lyft soars 16% in pre-market trading after publishing adjusted quarterly profit on Tuesday evening above the LSEG consensus.
Robinhood Markets climbs 12.7% in pre-market trading, the online broker having published increased revenues in the fourth quarter, to 471 million dollars compared to 380 million a year ago.
VALUES IN EUROPE
An avalanche of company publications is livening up discussions in Europe, notably in Paris with Capgemini gaining 5.29% after better-than-expected quarterly turnover.
M6 advances by 0.89%, the group’s plan in “streaming” taking precedence over the drop in annual turnover.
Elsewhere in Europe, ABN Amro climbs 4.88% on the back of better-than-expected quarterly profit, while Delivery Hero jumps 7.12% as its organic cash flow generation is more than sufficient to settle due dates of his debt.
On the downside, Heineken, which was cautious on its operating profit for this year in a context of volatile economic conditions, lost 5.48%.
Thyssenkrupp fell 7.9% due to lowering its revenue and profit forecasts for the 2023/2024 financial year.
TUI drops 3.98% after shareholders decided to vote in favor of abandoning the tour operator’s listing in London to focus solely on Frankfurt.
RATE
The yield on the ten-year German Bund fell around three basis points, to 2.366% after a gain of 2.4 points the day before linked to data on inflation in the United States.
That of US Treasury bills of the same maturity fell by 2.5 basis points, to 4.3005%, after reaching a high of more than two months, at 4.3320%.
CHANGES
The dollar nibbles 0.07% against a basket of reference currencies and remains close to a three-month high.
The euro fell by 0.11%, to $1.0697, while the pound sterling lost 0.42%, to $1.2536, after the stagnation of consumer prices in January in the United Kingdom.
OIL
Oil prices further increased their gains on Wednesday after OPEC forecasts of solid demand this year. The sharp drop in fuel stocks in the United States last week also supports prices.
Brent rose 0.42% to $83.12 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose 0.32% to $78.12.
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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