© Reuters. THE EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS SLIGHTLY LOWER AT MID-SESSION
by Patrick Vignal
PARIS (Reuters) – europe’s main stock Exchanges are changing slightly on Thursday at the mid-session as Wall Street is expected with a moderate increase in a market context still marked by trade tensions and questions about the monetary policies of major central banks.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.23 percent to 5.516,72 points to 10.40 am GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax is down 0.22 per cent, and in London, the FTSE gives up 0.07 per cent.
Index pan-european FTSEurofirst 300 yields up to 0.19%, the EuroStoxx 50 euro-zone to 0.26% and the Stoxx 600 to 0.24%.
Futures contracts on indices of new york indicate an opening of Wall Street is up about 0.2%, a degree of caution as to provide up to Friday’s publication of the monthly report on employment in the United States.
A u.s. delegation arrived in Beijing for two days of talks on trade relations between the two leading economies of the world, but Washington has already announced that its representatives repartiraient as soon as Friday, which leaves little room for real advances.
On the side of monetary policy, investors digest always the announcements made Wednesday by the federal Reserve, which has not touched its rates but has changed his rhetoric on inflation in a way opening the door to various interpretations.
The EURO goes up
On the foreign exchange market, the dollar gave ground in a first time in response to the publication of the Fed’s statement before recovering and then returning on Thursday to the lower against a basket of currencies of reference.
He sells mostly some ground against the euro, which is evolving around 1,1980 dollar..
The single currency has slightly reduced its gains after the announcement of an unexpected drop in inflation in the euro zone for the month of April, which had also the effect of lower government bond yields of the euro area, the 10-year German losing more than two basis points to fall to 0.56 per cent.
For economists, societe generale (PA:SOGN), the amendments adopted by the Fed in his speech on inflation seem to be designed to minimize the risk of an acceleration of prices.
“In fact, we were struck by the fact that so many market participants worried recently a rise in inflation, as the Fed seems to be rather optimistic on the prospects of price increases”, comment on-they.
Recent indicators suggest that inflation is waking up in the United States and investors will study carefully the report Friday on the job, particularly the component on the evolution of the average hourly wage.
VEOLIA CLIMBS, NEXANS PLUNGES
The meeting in Europe is animated by a new round of corporate results. At the head of the Stoxx 600, the swiss manufacturer of mice and keyboards for computers Logitech leaps of 6,66% after it reported better than expected results in respect of the fourth quarter of its fiscal year.
Lagardère (+3,36%) benefits for its share of a recovery of the board of analysts of Barclays (LON:BARC), who are optimistic about the focus in the group on the publishing and the specialized retail (“travel retail”).
At the head of the CAC 40, Veolia (PA:LIFE) rose from 3.02 percent after it announced an acceleration of its growth in the first quarter of 2018 and will be very confident for the rest of the year.
Conversely, Nexans (PA:NEXS) plunged 8.4% in reaction to a sales judged disappointing in the first quarter, adversely impacted by currency effects and weak activity in high voltage cables.
Red lantern in the Stoxx 600, the belgian Bpost wins of 11.43% after quarterly lower than expected, affected in particular by higher costs.
Beyond the results, the increase in the price of raw materials promotes the compartment of basic resources (+0,21%) is similar to that of oil and gas (+0,18%).
The barrel of Brent is stable at around 73,30 dollars and a barrel of light crude, american crude oil (WTI) is trading above us $ 68.
(Edited by Blandine Hénault)
