(Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher and Wall Street was trading in disarray mid-session on Thursday, at the end of a day marked by operators’ expectations regarding announcements from the European Central Bank (ECB), which decided to reduce its key rates, without giving any indication of the date of the next reduction.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 0.42% at 8,040.12 points. The British Footsie rose by 0.47% and the German Dax by 0.38%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.66%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.69% and the Stoxx 600 0.68%.

At closing time in Europe, the Dow Jones gained 0.13%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 0.08% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.18%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has, as expected, announced a 25 basis point reduction in its three key rates, the first reduction in borrowing costs in a cycle of monetary tightening that began in July 2022 to combat inflation which has peaked in double digits.

“Was it a unanimous decision? Yes, but (less) just one governor,” said President Christine Lagarde during a press conference following the announcements.

The ECB, however, raised its inflation forecasts for 2024 and 2025, signaling that the fight against rising prices was not over.

“The European economy has been in virtual recession or stagnation for more than a year now (…) If there had not been this decline, it would have been a very negative signal leading investors to say that “things are happening that we don’t know,” Emmanuel Auboyneau, associate manager at Amplegest, told Reuters.

These announcements, which were not accompanied by details on the pace of the next rate cuts, led to a recovery in bond yields.

Traders now expect 35 basis points of cuts by the ECB this year, on top of today’s decision, according to LSEG data.

VALUES

Atos closes up 6.42% after postponing the decision on the two revised financial restructuring offers it received, one from the consortium led by One Point, David Layani’s company, and the other from the company EP Equity Investment (EPEI) of Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky.

TODAY’S INDICATORS

Retail sales in the euro zone fell by 0.5% over one month in April, a slightly sharper decline than expected by analysts.

Unemployment claims increased in the United States during the week ending June 1, to 229,000 compared to 221,000 the previous week.

CHANGES

The dollar is almost stable (-0.04%) against a basket of reference currencies, while the euro gains 0.11% to 1.0880 dollars.

RATE

Bond yields in the euro zone increased slightly, driven by the lack of details on the timetable for the ECB’s next rate cuts.

“Arguably the statement gave less guidance than might have been expected about what’s going to happen next,” said Mark Wall, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank, adding that the ECB is not seemed in no hurry to soften its policy.

The German ten-year yield gained 0.2 basis points (bps) to 2.5450%, its two-year equivalent gaining 0.2 bps to 3.0140%.

The ten-year US Treasury is stable at 4.2890%.

OIL

Expectations of the Fed’s rate reduction and the ECB’s decision are boosting crude oil prices.

Brent rose 1.73% to $79.77 per barrel, with American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) increasing 1.88% to $75.46.

(Writing by Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)

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