Europe ends the green session painfully
By Claude Chenjou
PARIS (Reuters) – European shares ended slightly higher on Friday and Wall Street traded in the green in a volatile session in New York in the morning amid investors’ hopes for an easing in interest rates. and mixed corporate results.
In Paris, the CAC 40 reached 7,097.21 points with a slight increase of 0.02%. The British Footsie gained 0.05%, and the German Dax gained 0.11%.
EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.1%, FTSEurofirst 300 0.17% and Stoxx 600 0.26%.
For the week as a whole, the Paris CAC 40 gained 1.44% and the pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.67%, restoring weekly gains after last week’s decline that ended a period of uninterrupted growth. year
The day’s session in Europe was mainly driven by a new set of results from companies supporting the indices, especially the luxury segment.
VALUES IN EUROPE
LVMH’s financial releases hit the CAC 40 hot and cold. The luxury giant’s name, which closed up 0.07%, traded between -2.2% and +0.8% during the session after announcing higher-than-expected organics. revenue growth in the fourth quarter, but a flat margin level over 2021 and a slowdown in activity in China.
The session was less volatile for other luxury stocks such as Richemont (+1.06%), Kering (+1.78%) and Moncler (+2.37%).
Street furniture group JCDecaux (+3.11%) and Swedish steelmaker SSAB (+10.1%) also supported the Stoxx 600, while Rémy Cointreau (-3.72%) and H&M (-4.12%) disappointed . .
Scor, down 7.56%, was hurt by the CEO’s resignation announcement and Airbus, down 3.57%, was punished by a downgrade from Jefferies.
ON WALL STREET
At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones advanced 0.12%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 advanced 0.21% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.68% in a seesaw session.
Intel fell 7.31% after announcing a net loss forecast for the current quarter amid a deteriorating outlook for the PC and data center market. Rivals such as Qualcomm are also in the red as the semiconductor index fell 0.86%.
Chevron and Hasbro fell 4.25% and 6.91%, respectively, after lower-than-expected results, while forecasts for American Express (+10.95%) and Visa (+2.40%) were positive.
SHOWS OF THE DAY
In the US, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending fell 0.2% in December and that inflation slowed further with the US Federal Reserve (FED) meeting in two days from next Tuesday.
The so-called PCE consumer price index, which is closely watched by the Fed, rose 0.1% last month, as it did in November. However, its year-on-year growth slowed to 5.0% after 5.3% in November.
The “core PCE” index, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.3% after 0.2% in November, to 4.4% year-on-year in December and 4.7% in November.
Art Hogan, strategist at B. Riley Wealth, predicts that “There is no doubt that these data will be enough to justify the Fed’s decision to slow rate hikes to 25 basis points when it makes its decision on February 1st.”
CHANGES
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s movements against a basket of benchmark currencies, advanced 0.17% after the latest American readings.
The euro fell by 0.32% to $1.0854.
RATE
Bond yields rose slightly ahead of next week’s Fed, European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) meetings. Traders are betting on a 50 basis point increase in the euro zone and the UK, against a 25 basis point increase in the US.
The ten-year German Bund yield ended up two basis points at 2.24%, and its American equivalent of the same maturity was seen up nearly three points at 3.52%.
OIL
Oil prices started to fall again on Friday, after rising more than 1% on Thursday on the latest economic data from the US and hopes of an increase in Chinese crude oil demand. However, the two oil benchmarks should end in the green for a third straight week.
Brent fell 0.83% to $86.74 a barrel, US light oil (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) fell 1.11% to $80.11.
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, Editing by Bertrand Boucey)
