Rise in sight in Europe after sustained gains on Wall Street – archyworldys

by Marc Angrand

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are expected to rise on Friday, in the wake of Wall Street and major Asian markets, carried by a current of cheap purchases after company results and US economic indicators better than expected.

Index futures suggest an increase of 0.41% for the Dax in Frankfurt, 0.28% for the FTSE 100 in London and 0.42% for the EuroStoxx 50. As for the CAC 40 in Paris, it could take around 0.4% according to the first available indications.

Wall Street recorded its largest single-session percentage gain on Thursday since early March after a series of better-than-expected results, such as those from Morgan Stanley (+ 2.48%), Walgreens Boots Alliance (+ 7.4%) and UnitedHealth (+ 4.17%), the decline in weekly jobless claims to their lowest level in 19 months and the slowdown in producer prices.

The latter at least temporarily allayed some fears that the Federal Reserve would be forced to accelerate the tightening of its monetary policy.

“Investors also welcome the fact that the S&P 500 has passed above its 50-day moving average,” notes John Plassard, deputy director of Mirabaud Securities.

The ratification by US President Joe Biden of the law raising the US debt ceiling is also helping to improve general sentiment in the markets.

The upcoming session will be animated, among other things, by the figures for retail sales in the United States in September, at 12:30 GMT, and the American consumer confidence index of the University of Michigan at 14:00 GMT.

A WALL STREET

The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply higher Thursday after strong quarterly results released by several large companies, including Bank of America, and labor market and inflation indicators that allayed interest rate concerns .

The Dow Jones index gained 1.56%, or 534.75 points, to 34,912.56 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 74.46 points (+ 1.71%) to 4,438.26 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 251.79 points (+ 1.73%) to 14,823.43 points.

Driven by increases in Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet, the tech sector (+ 2.28%) was the main catalyst for the S & P-500, which recorded its strongest one-day advance since early March.

IN ASIA

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index gained 1.34% within an hour of closing, technology stocks taking full advantage of the sharp rise in the Nasdaq: Tokyo Electron rose for example 2.37% and Sony 1.79%.

The Nikkei is moving towards a weekly gain of around 3% after three weeks of straight decline.

In China, the Shanghai SSE Composite takes 0.26% and the CSI 300 0.38%. While general sentiment remains supported by hopes for new monetary and fiscal support measures, prudence is limiting gains ahead of important economic statistics on Monday, including those of gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter.

CHANGES / RATES

The dollar, almost stable against a basket of benchmark currencies (-0.02%), hit a new high of nearly three years against the yen at 113.97. The euro, for its part, climbed back to $ 1.1608 (+ 0.12%).

The greenback is currently posting a negative weekly performance against a backdrop of renewed risk appetite.

On the government bond market, the yield of ten-year US Treasuries is moving in Asia very close to its close on Thursday, at 1.5283%, after the decline caused by the US indicators of the day.

OIL

Oil prices remain on an upward trend, still driven by the prospect of increased demand and low inventories in several major consuming countries.

Brent gained 0.75% to 84.63 dollars a barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) took 0.69% to 81.87 dollars.

Both are heading for a rise of around 3% on the week, the sixth consecutive weekly advance for Brent and eighth for WTI.

METALS

The copper price on the London LME market crossed $ 10,000 per tonne for the first time since June and is heading for a weekly rise of around 7%, its best weekly performance since November 2016.

(edited by Blandine Hénault)