Sharp drop in sight in Europe to start the last quarter of the year – Boursorama

by Blandine Henault

PARIS, (Reuters) – The main European stock markets should start the last quarter of the year sharply down, in the wake of Wall Street, risk aversion still dominating after a very heckled month of September.

Futures contracts report a decline of 0.91% for the Parisian CAC 40, 1.71% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 1.16% for the FTSE in London and 1.74% for the EuroStoxx50.

In September, the CAC 40 recorded a monthly decline of 2.4% but posted an increase of 0.19% over the whole of the third quarter.

The reasons for concern that weighed last month remain present, between the prospect of a tightening of the monetary policies of the major central banks, inflationary pressures and the financial difficulties of the Chinese group Evergrande.

If the risk of a “shutdown” in the United States was avoided, the vote in the House of Representatives on the plan of 1000 billion dollars on the infrastructures wanted by the American president Joe Biden was however postponed.

VALUES TO FOLLOW:

A WALL STREET

Futures on US indices signal a further decline at the opening after the sharp decline already noted Thursday.

The Dow Jones index fell 1.59% to 33,843.92 points, the S & P-500 lost 1.19% to 4,307.54 points and the Nasdaq Composite, with a strong technological component, fell by 0, 44% to 14,448.58 points.

All three indices recorded their worst quarterly performance since the start of 2020, when the onset of the COVID-19 crisis suddenly crippled the global economy. The Dow ended the July-September period in the red (-1.9%), like the Nasdaq (-0.38%), while the S & P-500 posted a modest gain of 0.23%.

IN ASIA

In the wake of Wall Street, the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 2.31%.

In China, markets are closed for a week on the occasion of the “Golden Week” holidays.

RATES / CHANGES

Risk aversion is pushing investors towards assets deemed to be safe havens, and in particular sovereign bonds. Demand pushes bond yields lower, with the 10-year Treasuries rate falling five basis points to 1.4788%.

In Europe, the ten-year German Bund yield fell nearly three basis points in early trading, to -0.222%.

In the currency market, the dollar remains close to a one-year high hit the day before against a basket of benchmark currencies.

For its part, the euro is at its lowest since July 2020 against the dollar and is moving below the threshold of 1.16 dollars, at 1.1576.

OIL

Crude prices are stable, with caution prevailing ahead of a meeting of OPEC producers and their allies (Opec +) scheduled for Monday where they could discuss an increase in production, sources said.

The barrel of Brent advanced 0.05% to 78.35 dollars and that of US light crude lost 0.04% to 75 dollars.

(Edited by Nicolas Delame)