World stock markets in dispersed order one week before the Fed meeting

(Paris) World stock markets are moving without a clear direction on Monday, awaiting the next decisions of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), investors hoping for a break in its monetary tightening policy.

Wall Street heads for a contrasting opening. Around 7:35 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones futures contract was up 0.06%, the S

In Europe, around 7:35 a.m. (Eastern time) London was up 0.49%, Frankfurt 0.09% while Paris dropped 0.13% and Milan 0.21%.

In contrast, in Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange broke a 33-year-old closing record, supported by the latest US employment figures released on Friday. The flagship Nikkei index jumped 2.20%, the lowest level since July 1990, and the broader Topix index jumped 1.7%.

“We are again facing a good deal of uncertainty about the outlook for the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in the short term,” analysts at Deutsche Bank said.

Investors were convinced at the end of the last meeting in May that the Fed would pause on the hike in its key rates, and even lower them significantly by the end of the year, but the figures showing an activity still strong economy are changing their outlook a little.

“A lot of the economic data suggests that the rate hikes so far have had little effect,” notes Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.

Thus, “339,000 new jobs were created in May, well above the 180,000 predicted by analysts”, recalls Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank.

However, at the same time, wage growth has slowed, a positive sign in central banks’ fight against inflation, and the unemployment rate has increased.

Ahead of the Fed meeting scheduled for June 13-14, macroeconomic releases should continue to capture the markets’ attention. On the agenda for Monday, shortly after the opening of the American markets, will be the publication of the ISM services activity index for May in the United States.

On the bond market, European government rates rose for the second session in a row. The US 10-year rate stands at 3.75%, down from 3.59% on Thursday at the close and 3.69% on Friday.

The British online clothing sales group Asos gained more than 8% after a press report evoking a possible takeover offer of one billion pounds (1.16 billion euros) by a Turkish subsidiary of Chinese Alibaba, Trendyol .

Saudi Arabia pledged on Sunday to cut oil production by one million barrels a day starting in July, following a meeting of OPEC nations and their allies. “This would bring the country’s production level down to around nine million barrels a day next month, the lowest level in years,” said John Plassard, investment specialist at Mirabaud.

After these announcements, oil rebounded. Around 7:30 a.m. EST, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was up 1.86% at $77.55. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in July, gained 2.02% to 73.19 dollars.

The dollar is losing ground: it was down 0.18% against the euro, at $1.0688 to the euro, and down 0.57% against the pound, to $1.2381 to the pound .

Bitcoin fell 1.73% to $26,775.