(Paris) Stock markets were moving without a clear direction on Wednesday, remaining cautious in the face of persistent high inflation in the United Kingdom, high interest rates and rather mixed corporate results.
Wall Street was showing a slight decline: around 11:50 a.m. (Eastern time), the Dow Jones was down 0.32%, the S
In Europe, the financial centers ended in dispersed order: Paris gained 0.21%, Frankfurt 0.08%, but London fell 0.13%.
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.
The publication “has caused a shock wave, as it is significantly stronger than expected, almost a percentage point higher than the Bank of England’s forecast given in February. The January drop seems an illusion for those expecting a sharper slowdown in inflation,” commented Stephen Innes of Spi AM.
As a result of this publication, British government bond rates increased significantly: the ten-year rate rose to 3.84% against 3.75% the day before and the two-year rate stood at 3.80% 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 3.63%.
The Bank of England should not be the only one to raise its rates next month since, according to the consensus, the US Federal Reserve and 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.
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 3.63%.
The regional bank Western Alliance, which suffered particularly in March during the banking crisis, jumped 15.63% on Wall Street after its results. Pacwest gained 7.14% and First Republic 2.30%.
US investment bank Morgan Stanley saw net profit slip 20% in the first quarter and its stock fell 0.65%.
The American airline United Airlines lost 194 million dollars in the first quarter, almost ten times less than last year, but is betting on strong demand for plane tickets for the future. Investors seemed reassured and the stock rose 4.34%.
The pound gained 0.10% against the dollar (at $1.2437) around 11:45 a.m. (ET).
Oil prices continued to decline, as fears of a further hike in US interest rates, which could weigh on demand for crude, overshadow the Chinese economic recovery.
By 11:40 a.m. EST, a barrel of North Sea Brent crude for June delivery slid 1.25% to $83.71.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in May, dropped 1.35% to 79.77 dollars.
Bitcoin dropped 3.80% to $29,270.
