(Paris) The world stock markets end without much variation a week during which the slowdown in inflation and the hope of recovery in China boosted prices in most financial markets.
Wall Street was up slightly, with the Dow Jones (0.29%), driven by the results of health insurer UnitedHealth (7.12%). THE
In Europe, Paris gained 0.06%, but London (-0.08%), Frankfurt (-0.22%) and Milan (-0.39%) fell. All are nevertheless up sharply over the week, up to 3.69% in Paris, and the pan-European Eurostoxx 600 index took 2.94%, its best performance since the end of March.
In Asia, Hong Kong jumped 5.71% for the week as a whole, on speculation about Beijing’s further aid to the Chinese economy.
Global equities, measured by the MCSI World index, thus experienced their best week since the end of March (3.27%).
In other signs of investors’ renewed appetite for risk, bitcoin hit its highest level in 13 months on Thursday, while the euro rose sharply against the dollar (2.46% over the week, to 1.1237 dollars for one euro).
Investors are pleased with the slowdown in inflation as well as lower producer prices in June in the United States, according to indicators published on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday they learned that import prices had fallen.
“Inflation was already off its all-time highs, but Wednesday’s report was something different,” recalls Oanda analyst Craig Erlam, noting that both year-on-year and month-on-month data has been better than expected. “It only remains to be seen whether this trend will continue. »
Main indicator on Friday, consumer confidence remains positively oriented in the United States, at its highest since September 2021.
The only negative point is that short-term inflation expectations have risen slightly (to 3.4% by the end of the year).
Markets are hoping inflation data will nudge the U.S. central bank toward more accommodative policy after a final rate hike at the end-July meeting.
On the bond market, the slight rise in interest rates on government bonds on Friday does not offset the sharp declines of recent sessions.
The American bank JPMorgan Chase (0.14%), which on Friday announced a jump in its quarterly results (14.47 billion dollars in profits) due in part to the takeover of First Republic, estimated that the American economy was ” resilient” while warning that risks still linger.
Wells Fargo (0.71%) also rose after its results, but not Citi (-2.93%) or the first global asset manager Blackrock (-1.71%).
Goldman Sachs (-0.67%) is leading a group of investors to buy Norwegian educational technology group Kahoot! for 1.5 billion euros. Kahoot!, listed in Oslo, soared 10% to approach the level offered by investors.
Swedish telecoms equipment giant Ericsson announced second-quarter losses on Friday, while Finnish rival Nokia lowered its 2023 forecast due to a slowdown in their main market, network construction. 5G.
Around 6:50 a.m. EST on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, Nokia shares fell 9.40%. On the Stockholm Stock Exchange, the Ericsson title fell by 10.67%.
Oil prices were catching their breath at the end of a generally positive week for prices, with the prospect of an end to the rise in rates, dragging down the dollar and hopes of a recovery in activity.
By 11:40 a.m. EST, a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for September delivery was down 1.68% at $79.99. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for August delivery, fell 1.79% to 75.51 dollars.
