PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are trending upwards on Monday morning in the wake of Wall Street and in a context of optimism linked to the first reduction expected on Thursday in interest rates from the European Central Bank (ECB) .

In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.58% to 8,039.08 points around 07:30 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 advances by 0.76% and in Frankfurt, the Dax gains 1%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index increased by 0.74%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.84% ​​and the Stoxx 600 by 0.53%.

Futures contracts on Wall Street forecast an increase of 0.13% for the Dow Jones, 0.16% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.28% for the Nasdaq after a session on Friday where the indices benefited from the publication of a PCE inflation figure in the United States in April in line with expectations, alleviating fears of high interest rates over a long period.

In the euro zone, the ECB is expected to lower its key rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, the first easing in a cycle of monetary tightening that began in July 2022 to combat inflation which peaked at double digits before falling to 2.6 in May. %.

A Reuters survey also shows that the Bank of Canada (BoC) should also lower its main key rate on Wednesday, to 4.75%.

On the bond market, the yield on the ten-year German Bund is stable, at 2.653%, while that of the French OAT appears practically unchanged at 3.1441%, despite the decision of the rating agency S&P Global Ratings to lower France’s credit rating.

In addition to monetary policy expectations, the good performance of equity markets is fueled by monthly indicators of manufacturing activity around the world, since factory activity increased in China, Japan and South Korea. The ISM manufacturing index in the United States will be released at 2:00 p.m. GMT, while in Europe, sector PMIs are expected shortly before 08:00 GMT.

On the European stock market, the positive trend is driven by growth sectors such as new technologies (+1.03%) and luxury (0.85%). Tech is also benefiting from presentations by Nvidia and AMD of new chips intended for artificial intelligence (AI).

In individual values, Atos is volatile after opening sharply higher. The stock now loses 3.86% after the group’s announcement of two revised takeover offers from EPEI and a consortium led by Onepoint.

GSK plunges 9.87% as a Delaware judge has authorized more than 70,000 lawsuits over Zantac, a heartburn medication that is no longer used.

Valneva lost 1.75% despite the approval on Friday by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of its single-dose vaccine against chikungunya.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund advances 0.99% while Blackstone is in the process of raising its offer for the group according to the Financial Times.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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