(Paris) The markets relaxed a little on Tuesday, after the publication of the consumer price index in the United States, which certainly rose again, but in which investors preferred to see some signs of hope.
Updated yesterday at 12:15 p.m.
Inflation accelerated further in March in the United States, reaching its highest level since 1981, at 8.5% over one year, against 7.9% in February, mainly due to gasoline prices which surged with the war in Ukraine.
However, investors note in particular that so-called underlying inflation, excluding energy and food prices, slowed compared to February, to 0.3% against 0.5%. Over one year, on the other hand, it accelerated, and reached 6.5%, its highest level since August 1982.
But as of Monday evening, the White House had warned of an “extraordinarily high” level of inflation, causing the American indices to decline, then the European places at their opening.
Neutral before the publication in pre-session trading, the American markets have since moved upwards: the NASDAQ of technology stocks gained 1.26%, the S&P rose by 0.85% and the Dow Jones by 0.70% towards 11:50 a.m.
In Europe, the stock markets ended in the red, but regained ground compared to the start of the session. Paris fell by 0.28%, London by 0.55%, Frankfurt by 0.48% and Milan by 0.33%.
“The markets were expecting the worst,” confirms Matt Peron of Janus Henderson. Even if “there is not much to be happy about”, in the figures of the day, other than underlying inflation, “the key now is to know if inflation is at its peak, and if so, at what rate it will slow down, ”he analyzes.
On the bond market, which has tightened considerably in recent weeks, the interest rate on the US 10-year loan, after reaching its highest since 2018, fell sharply to stand at 2.704% around 3 p.m. 50.
However, the publication is not likely to change the vision of the US Federal Reserve in the coming months.
The Fed started raising its key rates in mid-March and warned that it would continue to tighten its monetary policy in the coming months, with key rate hikes and asset sales.
In Europe sovereign interest rates followed the same trend ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday.
German banks sold
Shares of German banks Commerzbank (-8.47%) and Deutsche Bank (-9.36%) fell sharply throughout the session, the reason being the sale of large blocks of shares by the fund. American investment Capital Group, according to information reported by Bloomberg. Capital Group declined to comment while Deutsche Bank said it was “confident” in its strategy set out in March.
The big names in technology are recovering
The big names in the technology sector rebounded after the fall of the previous day, such as Tesla (+2.79%), Amazon (+2.25%) or Apple (+2.02%). In Europe, Dassault Systèmes (+0.65%) escaped the downward movement.
Oil rebound, above 100 dollars, the yen weighed down
Both oil benchmarks climbed more than 6% on Tuesday, galvanized by the easing of anti-COVID-19 measures in China, which should support demand, while OPEC warns that it will not be able to offset the Russian offer.
The barrel of Brent for delivery in June advanced by 6.80% to 105.18 dollars around 11:30 a.m. That of the American WTI for May maturity took 6.95% to 100.84 dollars.
Around 11:45 a.m., the euro was worth $1.0852, falling 0.29%.
The yen rebounded a little (+0.11% to 125.14 yen for one dollar) after touching its lowest level since 2015 (125.77 yen), weighed down by the prospect of a very flexible monetary policy in Japan .
Bitcoin briefly dipped back below $40,000 for the first time since March 16, following its plunge on Monday. Around 11:45 a.m., it took 1.12% to $40,290.