(New York) Western stock markets ended in the red on Tuesday, investors worried about unexplained leaks on the Nordstream gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany and a further rise in bond rates.
Updated yesterday at 5:25 p.m.
After much of the session up which gave hope for a rebound on the finish line, the indices ended in the red in Paris (-0.27%), Frankfurt (-0.72%) and London (- 0.52%).
“The situation remains tense” on the markets in the grip of volatility and the news around gas has contributed to disadvantage the European indices, observes Andrea Tuéni, analyst at Saxo Bank, interviewed by AFP.
Out of service due to the war in Ukraine, the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea were both affected by spectacular leaks, preceded by underwater explosions. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, considered on Tuesday evening that the leaks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea were an “act of sabotage”, as had also been mentioned earlier by Denmark and Sweden.
After opening in positive territory, the New York Stock Exchange ended in disarray.
Since the beginning of the week, volatility has made a resounding return to the markets.
In great stress the day before, the foreign exchange market stabilized on Tuesday, but this was not the case for the sovereign debt market, where bond yields continued to cross peaks. The US borrowing rate with a 10-year maturity is inexorably approaching 4%, the best-known threshold for 12 years, which it came close to on Tuesday, at 3.99%.
The spread between German and Italian interest rates, a sign of nervousness in the markets, exceeded 250 basis points for the first time since the spring of 2020, after the victory of post-fascist leader Giorgia Meloni in the Italian legislative elections.
“Right now, very few investors in the stock market believe things could improve soon,” comments Konstantin Oldenburger of CMC Markets.
Investors remain focused on macroeconomic developments as major central banks are determined to fight inflation even if growth is to suffer.
Fearing that the global economy is entering a recession, they will be able to measure as early as next month the impact of rising prices and rapid tightening of monetary policies on corporate profits.
In the United States, consumer confidence continued to rise in September, improving even more than expected despite persistent inflation and the risks of a recession in the American economy. Durable goods orders fell slightly in the United States in August, but less sharply than expected.
Relative decline of the dollar
The pound recovered 0.41% to 1.0733 dollars, after plunging to its all-time low on Monday. Since Friday, it is still down more than 4%, putting pressure on the Bank of England.
The European currency lost 0.15% to 0.9594 dollars and approached again 0.9554 dollars reached overnight from Sunday to Monday, for the first time in more than 20 years.
Bitcoin fell back below the symbolic threshold of 20,000 dollars (at 19,602 dollars).
Gas price jump
The price of European natural gas rose by 19.65% to 208 euros per megawatt hour on the reference market, driven by developments concerning Nord Stream.
Oil prices also rebounded on Tuesday. The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for November delivery gained 2.62%, to close at $86.27.
As for the barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also due in November, it took 2.33%, to 78.50 dollars. It had ended Monday at its lowest closing price since the first session of the year, on January 3.
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