(Paris) Stock markets reveled on Friday in the announcement of a relaxation of several measures against COVID-19 in China while continuing to relish the stronger than expected slowdown in US inflation.
Posted at 6:39
In the wake of Western markets which clearly welcomed the slowdown in inflation in the United States on Thursday, Asian markets had an enthusiastic session on Friday: Hong Kong jumped 7.7%, Shanghai 1.6% and Tokyo of 2.98%.
They were boosted by the announcement of a relaxation of some measures against COVID-19 in China, including a reduction in the quarantine on arrival in the country from ten to eight days.
Only the iBovespa, the main index of the São Paulo Stock Exchange, was an exception on Thursday and fell 3.61% at the close, fearing public spending by the President-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
European stock markets continued their momentum generated by the slowdown in inflation in the United States, which gives rise to hopes that the American Federal Reserve will slow the pace of its next rate hikes.
Around 3:40 a.m., Paris gained 0.91%, Frankfurt 0.50%, London 0.29% and Milan 0.70%.
Inflation slowed more than expected in the United States in October, not only at the level of the whole price list but also on the part excluding food and energy, which on Friday triggered a frenzy of buying orders. equities, a collapse in government bond yields and an ebbing dollar.
“Investors reacted to the latest US inflation data as if a miracle had happened,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank. “But in reality, US inflation remains very high compared to the 2% target that the US Federal Reserve wants to reach” and “it is too early to pop the champagne”, she said.
Mme Ozkardeskaya adds that “the Fed will certainly raise its key rate by 50 basis points in December and will probably raise it twice in the first quarter of next year, by 25 basis points each to bring the rate to 5%”.
On the debt market, bond rates rose a little on Friday morning.
On the macroeconomic side, British activity marked time in the third quarter with a decline of 0.2% in gross domestic product (GDP), against an increase of 0.2% in the previous quarter.
Inflation was confirmed at 10.4% in October in Germany, the highest since 1951, according to final figures released on Friday.
Investors will watch in the afternoon the indicator measuring US consumer confidence for November (University of Michigan).
They will monitor the possible implications of the woes of the cryptocurrency sector, which rocked after the largest exchange, Binance, gave up buying its competitor FTX, which lacked liquidity and had to bail out.
Richemont driven by the sales force
The Swiss luxury giant Richemont, owner of the Cartier jewelry house, suffered a net loss of 766 million euros in the first half, against a profit of 1.2 billion last year.
But backed by strong half-year sales for the period between April and the end of September, the stock climbed 11.39% to 119.30 Swiss francs on the Zurich Stock Exchange around 3:25 a.m.
In its wake, other luxury stocks were doing like a charm: Prada (+9%), Swatch (+7%), Burberry, Moncler and Salvatore Ferragamo (+4%), while the French trio LVMH/Kering/ Hermès rose by more than 2%, leading the CAC 40.
On the side of currencies and oil
The dollar rose a little against the yen, at the rate of one dollar for 141.43 yen around 3:30 a.m. against 140.98 yen the day before at 4 p.m. But the greenback had fallen by 3.75% against the Japanese currency on Thursday, after the publication of US inflation figures.
The euro appreciated at 1.0238 dollars against 1.0209 Thursday at 4 p.m.
Bitcoin fell 2.71% to $17,325.
On the oil market, the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 2.42% to 88.55 dollars around 3:30 a.m. and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea rose by 2.60% to 96.10 dollars.