by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets, apart from Frankfurt, finished cautiously higher on Wednesday and Wall Street was also slightly in the green at mid-session thanks to cheap purchases, the main concern of the market being the announcements of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) planned for the evening.

At the time of closing in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced by 0.38%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 by 0.19% and the Nasdaq by 0.15%.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.26% to 7,384.62 points. The British Footsie advanced by 0.05% and the German Dax fell by 0.02%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.30%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.13% and the Stoxx 600 0.15%.

The positive trend in Europe was driven by the new technologies (+1.11%) and energy (+0.69%) sectors, while the food and drinks compartment (-0.88%) %) weighed on the Stoxx 600.

The wait-and-see attitude especially prevailed before the Fed’s announcements at 7:00 p.m. GMT. The US central bank is expected to cut its key rates by 25 basis points, according to a widely shared consensus, after a two-day meeting, but uncertainty remains over the trajectory of borrowing costs in the United States in 2025 in view of Donald Trump’s policy deemed inflationary.

VALUES IN EUROPE

Renault climbed 5.21% as Honda and Nissan opened negotiations to strengthen their ties. The diamond group is a shareholder of Nissan.

Crédit Agricole SA (+0.49%) ended in the green after the announcement of the appointment of Olivier Gavalda to the post of general manager.

UniCredit took 1.31% and Commerzbank 1.37%, the Italian bank having announced that it had further strengthened its stake in the German group.

TODAY’S INDICATORS

British inflation rose in line with expectations in November, to 2.6% year-on-year, according to the ONS.

Inflation in the euro zone increased year-on-year in November at a lower rate than calculated in the first estimate, show final data published Wednesday by Eurostat.

CHANGES

The US dollar rose by 0.21% against a basket of reference currencies before the Fed’s decision.

The euro fell 0.16%, to 1.0474 dollars.

The pound sterling lost 0.13%, to $1.2692, on the eve of the Bank of England (BoE) decision.

RATE

The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds rose 1.4 basis points to 4.3987%, the seventh consecutive increase over the last eight sessions.

That of the German Bund at ten years ended practically stable, at 2.241%, just like the French OAT of the same maturity, which increased slightly, at 3.05%.

OIL

Oil prices are rising after the drop in crude stocks in the United States last week: Brent rose 1.05% to $73.96 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose 1.4%. at $71.06.

(Written by Claude Chendjou)

Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters