by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are expected to be generally stable on Wednesday after two consecutive sessions of rebound and in the absence of investors on Wall Street, the day being a public holiday in the United States.

According to the first available indications, the Parisian CAC 40 should lose 0.03% at the opening. The Dax in Frankfurt could fall by 0.02%, while the FTSE 100 in London is expected to drop 0.07%. The EuroStoxx 50 index is expected to increase by 0.08%.

In today’s indicators, British inflation returned to its 2% target in May for the first time in almost three years. This statistic should be welcomed by the Bank of England (BoE) which meets on Thursday but, according to experts, it is unlikely that it will decide to lower its key rates. Financial markets believe that a first monetary easing is more likely in September or October.

In the rest of Europe, investors should focus their attention on the spread between German and French rates as political risk linked to the French legislative elections caused market turbulence last week. financial before they recovered since Monday.

In the United States, the session will resume only on Thursday, June 19 being a public holiday due to “Juneteenth”, the date which commemorates the abolition of slavery in 1865, which should limit trading volumes in other financial markets. open.

A WALL STREET

The New York Stock Exchange ended up on Tuesday, after the performance of Nvidia and the publication of monthly retail sales statistics in the United States.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.2%, or 56.76 points, to 38,834.86 points.

The broader S&P-500 gained 13.8 points, or 0.3% to 5,487.03 points.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 5,212 points, or 0%, to 17,862.232 points.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 finished at record highs as Nvidia overtook Microsoft as the world’s largest market capitalization.

Other chipmakers, such as Qualcomm, Arm Holdings and Micron, also advanced, helping the semiconductor sector reach a record high.

IN ASIA

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index closed by 0.23% to 38,570.76 points, in the wake of Wall Street which benefited from the surge in Nvidia, which has become the world’s largest market capitalization. The broader Topix gained 0.47% to 2,728.64 points.

The MSCI index bringing together stocks from Asia and the Pacific (excluding Japan) gained 1%, supported by the new technologies compartment (+2%).

In China, the Shanghai SSE Composite fell 0.33% and the CSI 300 fell 0.41%, with the STAR50 technology index leading the declines after the stock market regulator announced plans to publish new measures aimed at to deepen reform of the sector.

VALUES TO FOLLOW IN EUROPE:

EXCHANGES/RATES

The dollar is almost unchanged on Wednesday (-0.02%) against a basket of reference currencies after the decline linked to retail sales figures in the United States which reinforced expectations of an imminent rate cut by the Fed .

The euro is trading at $1.0732 (-0.06%) and the pound sterling at $1.2727 (+0.16%).

The yield on the ten-year German Bund varied little on Wednesday, at 2.387%, after a drop of two points the day before.

OIL

The oil market is stable despite the nervousness linked to conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and the surprise increase in American crude stocks.

Brent gained 0.12% to $85.23 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 0.16% to $81.44.

NO MORE MAJOR ECONOMIC INDICATOR ON THE AGENDA

(Written by Claude Chendjou)

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