(New York) Global stock markets fell on Monday, as several economic indicators reminded investors of the weak momentum of activity in the main economic regions of the world.
Updated yesterday at 4:46 p.m.
Wall Street concluded mixed Monday, looking for direction throughout the session: the NASDAQ lost 1.20%, the S & P500 0.29% while the Dow Jones managed to glean 0.08%.
In Europe, Frankfurt fell by 0.45%, Paris by 0.23% and Milan by 0.06%, while London gained 0.63%.
Compared to the last few weeks, “it seems that the main subject has moved from inflation and the rise in rates to the fear of a recession”, summed up Vincent Manuel, director of investments at Indosuez Wealth Management.
“Before, stocks went down and bond rates went up. There, the shares fall, but the rates too, ”he notes.
Yields on ten-year US Treasuries fell a little to 2.88% from 2.91% on Friday as bond prices rose as they were more in demand. This reflected investors’ concern about a possible recession.
In Europe, where the interest on 10-year country bonds had risen sharply during the day, they finally ended slightly down.
The economic picture is bleak in the three major regions of the world, although the reasons behind the slowdown are different.
Weighed down by sanitary confinements, China saw its consumption plunge, with retail sales down 11.1% year on year in April, and its industrial production weakening (-2.9% year on year).
In Europe, inflation, accelerated by the war in Ukraine, also prompted the European Commission to drastically reduce its growth forecasts for the European economy.
Another inflationary factor, the price of wheat, already at its highest since the war in Ukraine, broke a new record on Monday at the opening on the European market, at 435 euros per tonne, after India decided to ban exports of the cereal, in the face of a drop in its production.
To complete the bleak picture, manufacturing activity in the New York area contracted sharply in May, for only the third time since the economic recovery in the summer of 2020. Analysts expected a slowdown, but not a pullback. .
Twitter continues its slide
The title of Twitter plunged 8.20% to 37.38 dollars, falling below the level where it was when Elon Musk revealed having acquired a stake in early April.
The boss of Tesla has since made an offer at 54.20 dollars, valuing the group some 44 billion dollars, before procrastinating.
Tesla also lost 5.88%, and has fallen more than a third of its value since Elon Musk’s first stake in Twitter.
Renault and McDonald’s leave Russia
Cornered by the sanctions hitting Russia, the French car manufacturer Renault (-0.04%), leader in the country with the Lada brand which it had recovered, sold its assets to the Russian State, the first major nationalization. since the offensive against Ukraine.
The American fast food giant McDonald’s (-0.09%), present in Russia for more than 30 years, has announced that it will definitely withdraw from the country and sell all its activities.
Bitcoin still below $30,000
After a slight rebound, bitcoin fell 4.48% to $29,630 around 7 p.m. GMT, weighed down by investor risk aversion that pushed the first cryptocurrency, and the entire sector as a whole, to a low since the end of 2020 Thursday.
On the side of oil and the euro
Oil prices continued to rise on Monday, spurred by the gradual lifting of health restrictions in Shanghai, tensions over the supply of gasoline, as well as the announcement of Sweden’s application for NATO membership.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in July ended up 2.41%, at 114.24 dollars.
As for the American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), with maturity in June, it gained 3.35%, to 114.20 dollars, its highest level for almost two months (March 25).
The euro resisted the dollar, appreciating slightly around 7 p.m. GMT, by 0.24% to 1.0437 dollars, not far from its lowest in five years.