(Paris) European stocks fell on Friday, confirming the trend of the week, investors preparing for the publication of inflation figures in the United States, the end of a very busy week.
Milan was down 1.56%, Paris 0.80%, Frankfurt 0.36% and London 0.30% around 6:45 a.m. EST and all are also in the red overall of the week.
In the aftermath of a strong rally, Wall Street is heading for a bearish open according to major index futures, around 0.4%.
At the end of a week marked by corporate publications, today’s session this time gives the main role to economic indicators.
The GDPs of European countries have shown that economic activity avoids recession, but only slightly. Overall, eurozone growth is just 0.1%.
Investors are now waiting for the PCE report, which notably gives the inflation indicator most followed by the American Central Bank.
It is holding its next meeting on May 2 and 3. Investors are certain that it will once again raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage points, but still hope that it will give indications for a more accommodating policy for the coming months.
“The latest data shows strong demand and persistent inflation. The Central Bank is expected to keep a stern tone amid risks of a resumption of inflation and waning fears “about the banking system after the March confidence crisis, Barclays analysts say.
In Asia, the trend was much better. Tokyo gained 1.4%, driven by the decisions of the Japanese Central Bank. It will launch a thorough review of its currently ultra-loose monetary policy, pointing to major changes in the future under its new governor Kazuo Ueda, but probably not anytime soon, as the analysis will take between 12 and 18 months.
In the government bond market, rates are falling, a sign of investor risk aversion.
Amazon has signed, like its major competitors, a first quarter above expectations, which confirms the recovery of the group’s trajectory.
After initially welcoming the posting in early post-closing email exchanges, Wall Street eventually corrected the issue. In pre-market electronic trading, the stock fell 1.27% after gaining more than 10%.
UK bank Natwest reported higher earnings on interest rates but the stock fell 4.85% on deposit disappointment amid the UK’s cost of living crisis.
The trend was affecting all European banks. Banco Sabadell fell by 7.36%, Banco BPM by 4.42%, Santander by 3.84% and Commerzbank by 4.06%.
Conversely, the first German bank Deutsche Bank announced on Friday the purchase of the British broker Numis for 410 million pounds (463 million euros) and rose by 0.36%.
The yen nosedived against the dollar on Friday and reached a nine-year low against the euro, penalized by the continuity of the Bank of Japan’s ultra-accommodative monetary policy.
Around 6:40 a.m. (Eastern time), the Japanese currency fell 1.5% to 136.00 yen per dollar, a lowest in a month and a half.
Against the euro, which has been on the rise recently, it lost 1.09% to 149.38 yen after falling to 149.51 yen, a level not seen since December 2014.
Bitcoin fell 1.02% to $29,330.
The price of oil was trying to rebound after falling during the week below the level that had justified cuts in the production of important exporting countries in April.
The barrel of Brent North Sea took 0.79% to 78.99 dollars and that of the American WTI 0.36% to 75.03 dollars around 6:30 a.m. (Eastern time).
