PARIS (Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to rise on Thursday, while Europe is moving higher at mid-session ahead of the European Central Bank’s next announcement, which will kick off a series of monetary policy decisions in the coming days.

New York index futures suggest Wall Street will open in the green, with the Dow Jones up 0.14%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 is up 0.13% and the Nasdaq up 0.12%.

In Paris, the CAC 40 rose by 0.93% to 7,465.57 points at around 10:00 GMT. The Dax in Frankfurt strengthened by 1.3%, while the FTSE in London rose by 0.87%.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 1.11%, the EuroStoxx 50 gained 1.39% and the Stoxx 600 grew by 1.08%.

The ECB will announce its next rate decision at 12:15 GMT, probably a 25 basis point cut, which will be followed in December by a second cut of this magnitude, according to expectations in the money markets.

The economic forecasts that the central bank will formulate on Thursday afternoon are also expected, as they will shed light on the ECB’s diagnosis of the European economy.

Investors are indeed concerned about the weakness of activity in the bloc: the lagged rise in wages and the persistence of inflation in services have pushed the institution to remain cautious, while overall inflation is approaching its target of 2%.

“This makes the ECB’s policy too restrictive for industry and households, leading to a decline in investment,” said Patrick Barbe, head of investment grade fixed income in Europe at Neuberger Berman.

“The ECB’s restrictive policy stance has been reinforced in real terms by the decline in headline inflation. In addition, the risk is heightened by the decline in government spending in most eurozone countries and by the synchronised global economic slowdown,” the observer further warns.

The ECB is the first of the major central banks to announce its rate decision: after the meeting, markets will focus on the Federal Reserve’s decision, expected on September 18, that of the Bank of England, on September 19, and that of the Bank of Japan, on September 20.

Several indicators, including producer prices in the United States, will also liven up the discussions.

VALUES TO FOLLOW ON WALL STREET

IBM said Wednesday it expects to take a one-time charge of about $2.7 billion before taxes in the third quarter as part of a pension plan transfer agreement with Prudential.

VALUES TO FOLLOW IN EUROPE

Technology rose 2.65%, the strongest sector gain in the Stoxx 600.

Valeo jumped 5.5% after the group was upgraded to “buy” by BofA Global Research, according to traders.

Legrand is up 3.09% after Deutsche Bank raised its recommendation to “buy” from “hold”.

Roche fell 3.39% after the Swiss drugmaker said results from an early trial of its experimental weight-loss pill were based on just six patients.

The Dutch government has reduced its stake in ABN Amro bank from 49.5% to 40.5%, Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said. The stock gained 3.81%.

DSV, which according to sources has been chosen to acquire Schenker, the logistics arm of German state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn, is up 7.28%, leading the Stoxx 600.

RATE

European yields are rising ahead of the ECB’s next decision, as the European Union considers issuing more debt to support its economy.

The yield on the German ten-year rate rose by 2.9 bp to 2.128%, while that of the two-year rate rose by 5.1 bp to 2.185%.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose 2.5 bps to 3.6777%, while the two-year yield rose 2 bps to 3.6662%.

CHANGES

Currency traders are waiting ahead of a salvo of central bank decisions.

The dollar gained 0.06% against a basket of benchmark currencies, the euro rose 0.05% to $1.1016, and the pound strengthened 0.07% to $1.3052.

OIL

The barrel is progressing, with investors worried about the impacts of Hurricane Francine on American production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brent rose 1.57% to $71.72 per barrel, while American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose 1.68% to $68.44.

(Written by Corentin Chappron, edited by)

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