(Paris) Stock markets lacked momentum on Wednesday, in the face of still-high British inflation, interest rates returning to high levels and multiple corporate results.
Wall Street opened lower: Around 9:45 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones fell 0.40%, the S
In Europe, the financial centers were mixed: Paris rose by 0.15%, Frankfurt fell by 0.10% and London by 0.15%.
Inflation slowed slightly in March in the UK, but remains above single digits, driven by food bills. Its decline is more modest than the forecasts of economists, who expected to see it fall back below the double digit threshold.
“ For the Bank of England, the need to proceed with a further rate hike at its next meeting, and no doubt beyond, therefore becomes more pressing”, with “ growth which seems to have held up, year in and year out. year, at the start of the year ” and “ underlying inflation maintained by the acceleration of wages ”, concludes Thomas Bauer, economist at the firm RichesFlores.
Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, remained stable at 6.2%. It is this indicator that particularly attracts the attention of central banks.
As a result of this publication, British government bond rates increased significantly: the ten-year rate rose to 3.83% against 3.75% the day before, and the two-year rate stood at 3.76% against 3 .68% Tuesday night.
In the United States, rates continued to rise, with the interest rate on the 10-year loan rising from 3.58% to 3.61%.
The Bank of England would not be the only ones to raise its rates next month since, according to the consensus, the American Federal Reserve like the European Central Bank (ECB) should do the same to continue their fight against inflation.
Rising prices, which central banks have been grappling with for more than a year, remain a concern in food and services even as headline inflation is decelerating in the United States and the eurozone.
Dutch brewer Heineken on Wednesday reported a slightly lower net profit (3%) in the first quarter, to 403 million euros, against 417 million euros last year, but maintains its objectives and reports sales “beyond expectations” in Europe and “encouraging” in the United States. The stock rose 4.01% in Amsterdam.
Netflix set out to convince the market that its transition to more varied and more finely calibrated subscriptions would be profitable in the long term. The platform gained fewer subscribers than expected by the market and the stock fell 2.91% in early trading.
The regional bank Western Alliance, which suffered particularly in March during the banking crisis, jumped 17.75% on Wall Street after its results. Pacwest gained 6.05% and First Republic 1.86%,
US investment bank Morgan Stanley saw net profit slip 20% in the first quarter and its stock fell 3.81%.
The pound gained 0.19% against the dollar (to $1.2449) around 9:40 a.m. EST.
Oil prices continued to slide on Wednesday as fears of another U.S. rate hike that could weigh on demand for crude overshadowed China’s economic recovery.
By 9:30 a.m. EST, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery slid 1.69% to $83.33.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in May, dropped 1.70% to 79.49 dollars.