(Paris) World stock markets are advancing cautiously on Friday, awaiting the speech of central bankers, starting with the president of the American Federal Reserve Jerome Powell, to know more about their intentions in the coming months.
European markets are moving in the green and heading for a weekly progression: around 7:50 a.m. (Eastern time), Paris advanced by 0.67%, London by 0.49%, Milan by 1.00%.
Frankfurt also gained 0.49%. The Destatis Institute confirmed that German gross domestic product stagnated between April and June, after declines in the previous two quarters.
In Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 2.05%, its worst drop since Aug. 2, wiping out most of its week’s gains. Hong Kong lost 1.40%, Shanghai 0.59%.
After a session clearly in the red, Wall Street was heading for a higher open on Friday: futures contracts for the three main indices rose between 0.05% and 0.30%.
The leaders of the central banks meet as every year in Jackson Hole, in the United States, for several days of conferences, the opportunity for them to transmit to the markets elements to better anticipate their next monetary policy.
Jerome Powell will speak shortly after US markets open.
Faced with real estate risk in China, growth fears in Europe and interest rates that have returned to their level of more than a decade ago “let’s hope that Jerome Powell will have the right words today in Jackson Hole for a smooth return,” says Florent Pochon, from Natixis Research.
Jerome Powell “will have to choose between pushing back or embracing the idea of ’higher longer’ at Jackson Hole,” in reference to policy rates that would be held at their current level for a long time, Citigroup economists say in a note.
“We believe that Mr. Powell’s tone will be less balanced than in the minutes of the July meeting, insofar as the latest data points to a risk of a rise in inflation”, judge for their part. from Bank of America.
On the bond market, interest rates on government bonds rose, while remaining below their level at the start of the week. Interest on the US 10-year bond was worth 2.25%, down from 2.24% Thursday at the close, its German counterpart 2.56%, down from 2.51% Thursday.
British luxury watch retailer Watches of Switzerland plunged more than 20% in London, despite assurances that the Swiss takeover of retailer Bucherer by Rolex, announced on Thursday, will lead to “no change” in distribution procedures from the manufacturer.
British broker CMC Markets, which was demoted from the FTSE 250 on Tuesday, plunged more than 13% on Friday after reporting a profit warning. “Sluggish market conditions continued into August, with net trading and investment revenue down 20% year-on-year,” the company explained.
Oil prices rose on Friday as supply tensions eclipsed fears over the resilience of demand for now, as gas remained below 35 euros after strike threats in Australia receded.
A barrel of Brent from the North Sea advanced 1.60% to 84.41 dollars around 7:40 a.m. (Eastern time) and a barrel of American WTI gained 1.32% to 80.09 dollars. Over the week, however, prices are down.
The euro fell 0.07% to $1.0802.
Bitcoin was up 0.28% at $26,090.