by Claude Chendjou

PARIS (Reuters) – European scholarships ended on Wednesday on profits after recent gains and a certain caution of investors as the monetary policy of the American reserve of the Federal Reserve.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a loss of 0.91% to 7,626.84 points. The British Footsie, which chained 16 consecutive sessions in the Green, ended this impressive series on Wednesday by finishing in decline by 0.44%. The German DAX reflected 0.57% after a gain since the start of the month of 2.75%.

The Eurostoxx 50 index abandoned 0.60% and the FTSEUROFITS 300 0.50%. The Stoxx 600, which has recorded a gain of 1.13%since the beginning of May, fell 0.54%, mainly penalized by the distribution sector (-2.16%) and that of health (-1.82%).

At the time of the fence in Europe, the Dow Jones advances by 0.55%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 of 012%, while the Nasdaq declines by 0.26%. Walt Disney, up 10.54%, records one of the highest increases after better than expected results.

Wall Street also benefits from the hope of attenuation of the trade conflict between the United States and China.

Chinese Deputy Prime Minister, He Lifeng, will meet this weekend in Switzerland with the American Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, and with the American representative for trade, Jamieson Greer, said Washington and Beijing.

Investors hope that this meeting will mark the starting point for commercial negotiations between the two countries, while the United States has decided to impose customs duties of 145% on Chinese products, which led Beijing to reply by surcharge of 125%.

This hope is however contained, as evidenced by the weakness of the gains at Wall Street and the slight decrease in Europe while the administration of President Donald Trump repeats the envy that agreements with major business partners are underway without any tangible being able to support this assertion.

“There will be a lot of theater, but I think the two parties probably want to go ahead as soon as possible,” notes Kim Forrest, investment director at Bokeh Capital Partners.

“It has become obvious that a large part of the negotiations on customs duties relate more to the way of modifying trade,” she added.

Another sign of prudence: the VIX volatility index, a barometer very followed by the nervousness of investors, is upward-oriented, at almost 25 points, while its European equivalent ended up more than 4%, above 21 points.

Values ​​in Europe

Sanofi (-4.31%), GSK (-4.89%), Astrazeneca (-1.82%) and other health values ​​in Europe suffered from the appointment of Vinay Prasad, not favorable vaccination, head of a key organ of the FDA, the American health agency.

Legrand took 3.01% after confirming his annual objectives and reports a solid start to the year.

SCOR, which reported a net profit above expectations advanced by 3.75%.

Novo Nordisk increased by 1.30%, the Danish laboratory having published an operating profit for the first quarter higher than the expectations of analysts.

Pandora won 1.71% in favor of better than expected quarterly results.

Ahold Delhaize (%+2.46) touched a record level in session after results above expectations in the first quarter.

Siemens Healthineers fell 1.71% after having said to expect that customs duties represent an impact of up to 300 million euros in its operating profit in the second half of 2025.

Vodafone reflected 1.91% after the telecom operator’s announcement of the surprise departure of its director Luka Mucic.

The indicators of the day

Retail sales in the euro zone fell more than expected from one month to the next in March, by 0.1%, after an increase of 0.2% in February, according to Eurostat.

Industry orders in Germany increased more than expected in March, by 3.6% compared to the previous month, in corrected data for seasonal and calendar variations, according to the Federal Statistics Office.

Changes

The dollar rises, 0.29% in the face of a basket of reference currencies, due to the uncertainties on future trade negotiations and pending the decision of monetary policy of the Fed scheduled for 6:00 p.m. GMT.

The Fed should leave its guiding rates unchanged this Wednesday, investors focus on possible indices concerning the prospects for the rest of the year while customs duties create an uncertainty about the economy.

The euro fell 0.18%, to 1.1348 dollars, after an increase of 0.48% Tuesday.

The Sterling book is exchanged at $ 1.3344 (-0.17%) on the eve of the monetary policy of the Bank of England (BOE). Economists interviewed by Reuters provide for a drop of 25 basic points of the main rate of the BOE, to 4.25%.

RATE

The yield of the German Bund at ten years has sold 5.7 base points, to 2.475%, while the two years lost 2.9 base points, to 1.725%, the markets being relieved by the election of Friedrich Merz as German Chancellor after an initial setback in Parliament. In Paris, Friedrich Merz and Emmnuel Macron pleaded for a Franco-German revival for Europe.

The yield of American treasury bills at ten years fell by almost three basic points, to 4.288%, before the Fed announcements.

OIL

The oil market is falling back on Wednesday after a technical rebound on Tuesday, investors focus on the commercial negotiations scheduled for this weekend between the United States and China.

Brent Brent refused 1.06% to $ 61.48 per barrel and light American crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) from 0.96% to $ 58.51.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)

Copyright © 2025 Thomson Reuters