by Mara Vilcu

(Reuters) – The main European scholarships ended up on Wednesday but without much conviction, the remaining prudence of putting before the imminent entry into American customs duties.

In Paris, CAC 40 won 0.18% at 7,635.03 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax advanced by 0.25% and in London, the FTSE 100 increased by 0.24%.

The Eurostoxx 50 index won 0.26%, the FTSEUROFirst 300 lost 0.12%and the stoxx 600 abandoned 0.09%.

US customs duties against many countries are due to come into force on Thursday, a new stage in the commercial offensive of Donald Trump who does not seem to want to stop there.

He notably brought the surcharge on India imports to the United States on Wednesday from 25% to 50%, in retaliation for Russian oil purchases by New Delhi.

The American president could also announce customs duties on semiconductors and electronic chips during next week. He also plans to impose a “low customs law” on imports of pharmaceutical products at first, before increasing it in about a year.

Faced with the commercial threat, the quarterly results season of companies made it possible to support risky assets even if the impact of customs duties was felt.

“The sectors most exposed to customs duties and regulatory changes record negative revisions of their profits as well as lower forecasts,” said Nicole Inui, head of the actions strategy at HSBC Americas.

VALUES

Novo Nordisk, which has published quarterly results in expectations, lost 5.36% in a context of intensification of competition in obesity drugs.

Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena advanced by 5% after having published a profit for the second quarter significantly higher than expectations on Wednesday, while the Italian bank seeks to buy its competitor MediBanca (+4.03%).

Glencore lost 5.41% after the announcement of a fall of 14% of its adjusted profit in the first half, penalized in particular by the drop in coal prices.

Beiersdorf dropped by 8.36%, the German manufacturer of consumer goods having revised downwards its forecasts for this year. Zalando was also in red after the results and dropped 9.02%.

A Wall Street

At the time of the closure in Europe, the New York Stock Exchange was playing in the green, supported by a series of results of positive companies and increased anticipations of a drop in the rates of the Federal Reserve in September.

The Dow Jones increased by 0.34%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 of 0.77%and the composite Nasdaq of 1.01%.

The indicators of the day

Retail sales in the euro zone have rebounded from one month to the next in June but less than expected, according to data published Wednesday by Eurostat, the European Union Statistical Office.

Changes

Anticipations around a drop in the next rates of the Fed weighs on the dollar, which allows the euro to reach its highest level in a week against the greenback.

The dollar loses 0.5% against a basket of reference currencies.

The euro earns 0.6% at 1.1642 dollars.

RATE

The longer -term American returns are increasing on Wednesday, before a 10 -year auction, and while the markets await the decision of President Donald Trump concerning the appointment of a new member of the Governors of the Federal Reserve.

The yield of Treasuries at ten years advances from 5.7 base points to 4.2532%. The two years earns 1.4 base points at 3.7302%.

In Europe, the yield of the German Bund at ten years earned more than two basic points, at 2.649%.

OIL

Oil prices are rebounding on Wednesday after reaching their lowest level in five weeks the day before, investors concentrating new American customs duties against India and on the larger drop than expected from American gross stocks.

The Brent advances 1.17% to 68.43 dollars per barrel and light American crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) takes 1.21% at 65.95 dollars.

To follow August 9:

(Some data may accuse a slight offset)

(Written by Mara Vîlcu, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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