(Paris) Western stock markets moved cautiously on Tuesday, investors uncertain whether they should rejoice more in the easing of pressure on central banks to continue to tighten interest rates or rather fear the consequences of the economic slowdown .
In Frankfurt, the Dax signed an annual peak in session (at 15,737 points) before settling and concluding on a timid rise (0.14%). Paris stalled and London dropped 0.50% on profit taking on oil stocks.
After a trendless open, US markets fell after the release of industrial orders, which weakened more sharply than expected in February, another sign of an economic slowdown. Around 12:10 p.m. (Eastern time), the Dow Jones index yielded 0.87%, the NASDAQ, with strong technological coloring, 0.68% and the S
The US indices had momentarily gone into the green with the publication of the Labor Department’s Jolts survey, investors seeing in this cooling of the labor market the opportunity for the US central bank (Fed) to soon pause its rate hikes.
On Tuesday, the Australian Reserve Bank decided to pause its monetary tightening by not raising its rates for the first time in ten meetings.
Market participants have “the feeling that other central banks could follow the same path in the coming weeks”, which “supports the initially cautious tone” of the session, observes Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
On the one hand, investors appreciate the slowdown in price increases observed in recent months, mainly due to the fall in energy prices since the start of the war in Ukraine.
But on the other, they wonder if the economic slowdown in the United States will eventually lead to a recession. In Europe, where inflation remains high, consumption could be hurt during this quarter.
On Tuesday, the ECB released an indicator showing that consumer expectations for inflation in the euro zone had fallen markedly in February compared to the previous month. Eurozone producer price inflation in February also slowed slightly more than expected.
In the bond market, yields on ten-year bonds reversed the trend, falling to 3.34% on US Treasuries and 2.25% for German debt.
L’Oréal, the world’s number one cosmetics company, announced on Tuesday the signing of an agreement with Natura
Virgin Orbit shares, Richard Branson’s company specializing in the launch of small satellites, were in agony, plunging 23% in New York to weigh only 14 cents. The company filed for US bankruptcy on Tuesday.
After jumping on Monday in the wake of the announcement of unexpected production cuts by OPEC countries, crude prices were falling.
Around 12 p.m. EST, a barrel of Brent for June delivery was down 0.59% at $84.42 and a barrel of WTI for May delivery was down 0.72% at $79.83.
The pound has benefited from a somewhat less gloomy outlook in the UK since the start of the year and hit a ten-month high on Tuesday against a dollar weakened by worries weighing on the banking sector in the United States. It touched the symbolic threshold of 1.25 dollars.
The euro hit its highest level since early January against the dollar. Around 12 p.m. EST, it rose 0.49% to $1.0953.
Bitcoin rallied 1.55% to $28,018.