(Paris) World stock markets ended up sharply, in particular Wall Street, reassured by the slowdown in inflation in the United States and the euro zone, ending a semester marked by a resilient economy despite central bank rate hikes .
At the close, Paris gained 1.19%, Frankfurt 1.26% and London 0.80%.
Between 1er January and June 30, Paris gained 14.31%, Frankfurt 15.98%, but London showed less progress over the half, advancing by only 1.07%.
The British market “was penalized by the Chinese economy, which disappointed a lot, while [son] index is made up of a lot of raw materials”, a sector sensitive to the Chinese market, explains Sophie Chauvellier, manager of Dorval AM.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones gained 0.84%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.23% and the NASDAQ, a tech-heavy stock index, gained 1.45%. The pace of growth for a first half is the best since 2019 for the S&P 500 and since 1983 for the NASDAQ.
“The first half of the year was quite hectic, but at the end we arrive with an American economy which has contradicted the most pessimistic expectations and disinflation which is materializing and continues to be confirmed”, describes Sophie Chauvellier.
During Friday’s session, markets enthusiastically welcomed U.S. inflation data, which slowed in May, both year-on-year and month-on-month, according to the PCE index released by the Department of Commerce, which is favored by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
US inflation thus stood at 3.8% over one year in May against 4.3% the month before.
Since March 2022, the US central bank has raised its main key rate ten times in a row with the aim of slowing inflation and eventually bringing it back to around 2%. After having marked a first pause in this series of increases in June, Jerome Powell, the boss of the Fed, however, did not exclude this week that the monetary institution proceeds to two new rate hikes, possibly consecutive.
“We thought that the tightening of financial conditions was going to have a stronger impact on the economy, but that was without counting on the resilience of the labor market in the United States, with a very low unemployment rate”, continues Sophie Chauvellier. .
In Europe, the annual inflation rate in the euro zone continued to fall in June, falling to 5.5% after 6.1% in May, thanks to a sharp decline in energy prices, Eurostat announced on Friday. .
The unemployment rate in the euro zone remained stable in May at 6.5% of the active population, at its lowest level ever as in April, according to data published Friday by Eurostat, another sign of the resistance of the economy.
“The prospect of a recession has been pushed back to the beginning of 2024, disinflation and the resilience of the economy make up a positive cocktail for the equity markets”, adds Sophie Chauvellier.
Apple, $3 trillion valuation
Taking advantage of the enthusiasm of the NASDAQ, Apple, which is already the most important group on the stock market, for the first time closed above the bar of 3000 billion in capitalization.
The title had to exceed 190 dollars to reach this valuation. It ended on a jump of 2.31% to 193.97 dollars or a capitalization of 3051 billion dollars.
Elsewhere on the coast, all the big names in technology had the wind in their sails. On the processor side, Nvidia climbed 3.63% and AMD 2.40%. Meta and Amazon gained almost 2%.
In Europe, STMicroelectronics gained 2.15% and Capgemini 2.24% in Paris. In Frankfurt Infineon gained more than 3%.
On the side of oil and currencies
Oil prices rose, supported by the prospect of a possible extension of Saudi Arabia’s production cuts beyond July, as well as by positive macroeconomic indicators.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in August, of which it was the last day of trading, gained 0.75%, to close at 74.90 dollars.
As for the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery the same month, it appreciated by 1.11%, to 70.64 dollars. This is the first time in seven sessions that WTI has closed above $70.
The euro gained 0.41% to 1.0909 dollars.
Bitcoin was steady at $30,413 as of 4:45 p.m. EST.