Markets mixed ahead of US jobs and a long weekend

(Paris) Stock markets enjoyed a quiet session on Thursday, before entering a long weekend, awaiting a key US jobs report that will give new information on the health of the world’s largest economy.

Wall Street opened lower, showing a wait-and-see attitude. By 9:50 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones was down 0.31%, the S

In Europe, the indices were taking care of themselves before the long Easter weekend. Frankfurt took 0.21%, London 0.82% and Milan 0.80%. Paris was stable (-0.01%).

Earlier, recession fears again weighed on Asian markets.

On Friday, European markets and those of New York and Hong Kong will be closed. European stock markets will not reopen until Tuesday.

“While waiting for the start of the earnings season for companies in a few days, we are starting to observe some macroeconomic figures which point to a slowdown in activity”, underlines Alexandre Baradez, analyst of IG France.

This leads investors to wonder if the US central bank has not gone too far in monetary tightening in order to fight inflation.

In response, government bonds are boosted and appetite for risky assets such as equities is decreasing.

Moving backwards from bond prices, government debt yields fell around 1:45 p.m.

“It seems that the markets want to believe that the economy is slowing down, which it probably is, that the recent rate hikes are to blame and that the Fed will have to change its monetary policy stance soon”, analyzes Michael Hewson for CMC Markets.

While they had been hoping for months for signs of easing in the American labor market and an economic slowdown to foresee an imminent end to the cycles of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed), investors are now worried about the health of the world’s largest economy.

According to experts, the next few days’ data on jobs and inflation will be decisive in determining whether or not the US central bank (Fed) will raise its key rate by another 25 basis points at its next meeting in May.

As for the European Central Bank, another hike in its interest rates “will be appropriate” in May if its forecast for high inflation materializes despite recent financial strains, Philip Lane, its chief economist, said Thursday.

Alexandre Baradez observes “a phase of temporary friction in the markets, between degraded economic data and central banks which are not yet pivoting due to still high levels of inflation”.

Global tourism leader TUI said it had seen strong demand for the Easter holiday with more than 500,000 customers and said it expected a “good summer 2023”. The action soared 10.23% in London. In Paris, Accor climbed more than 5%.

A coalition of investors led by shareholder activism organization Follow This plans to table an advisory resolution at the TotalEnergies Group shareholders’ meeting to “align its targets for reducing” greenhouse gas emissions on the Paris agreement for 2030. The action gained 0.81% in Paris.

Oil prices were trending lower on Thursday as investors scrutinized signs of weakness in the U.S. economy that could translate into sluggish demand.

By 9:45 a.m. EST, a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for June delivery was down 0.64% at $84.46.

Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in May, slipped 0.62% to 80.07 dollars.

Around 9:45 a.m. (Eastern time), the euro lost 0.11% against the greenback at 1.0892 dollars for one euro.

Bitcoin lost 1.16% to $27,830.