(Paris) European stock markets closed lower on Thursday while Wall Street rose, the markets being undecided with on the one hand the ECB which raised its key rate and on the other the Fed which decided to maintain its own .
In Europe, Paris dropped 0.51%, Frankfurt 0.13% and Milan 0.28, while only London gained 0.34%.
On Wall Street, after opening lower, all three major indices returned to positive ground: around 12:10 p.m. the extended index S
The session takes place under the sign of the European and American central banks.
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced, unsurprisingly, to raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage points on Thursday, but Christine Lagarde, its president, also warned that other hikes will come during the year and the next “most likely” in July.
In addition, the ECB raised the pace of price increases expected until 2025: inflation should reach 5.4% in 2023, against 5.3% forecast in March, then 3.0% in 2024 and 2, 2% in 2025, not far from the 2% target ultimately.
After these announcements, the euro gained 0.95%, to 1.0933 dollars.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) decided on Wednesday to take a break and did not raise its rate, which is a first since March 2022 and after ten consecutive increases.
The Monetary Policy Committee marginally lowered its forecast for inflation this year in the United States, to 3.2% from 3.3%, but instead raised its forecast for product growth to 1.00% US gross domestic (GDP) for 2023, vs. 0.4% expected in March.
“We realize that the monetary measures have had an effect on the economy because the growth forecasts are quite weak,” said Alexandre Baradez of IG France.
“Investors are projecting this news onto companies: with prospects of sluggish growth, there is no miracle to be expected in an environment where there is less opportunity for price recovery,” explains Alexandre Baradez.
On the bond market, the borrowing rates of European states rose: the German 10-year ended at 2.50% against 2.44% the day before, the French at 3.01% against 2.97%.
In the U.S. around 12:10 a.m. EST, on the other hand, 10-year Treasuries eased to 3.73% from 3.78% after rising sharply earlier in the week.
The number one insurance company in Italy, Generali (-0.11% in Milan), will buy the Spanish insurer Liberty Seguros for 2.3 billion euros, which represents its biggest acquisition for ten years, has he announced Thursday in a press release.
The action of online clothing retailer Asos soared 14.76% on the London Stock Exchange after a return to profitability in the third quarter of its staggered 2022-2023 financial year, despite a decline in sales.
Investors welcomed the strategy of returning to profitability and reducing inventories.
In Stockholm, the clothing giant H
Natural gas prices hovered around 50 euros per megawatt hour on Thursday, their highest since early April, driven since early June by falling supplies from Norway, due to leaks and maintenance at many facilities. .
Around 12:05 p.m. (Eastern time), the price of the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, had settled and only rose by 3% to 39.60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). .
Oil prices rebound Thursday. The barrel of Brent for delivery in August advanced by 2.04% to 75.24 dollars and that of American WTI, with maturity in July, by 2.97% to 70.30 dollars.