(Paris) World stock markets were preparing to end a positive week for the first time in a month on Friday, after calmer sessions, but where fears of recession remain present and weaken the trend.
Posted at 10:10 a.m.
In Europe, Paris rose by 2.30%, London by 1.66%, Frankfurt by 1.00% and Milan by 0.95% around 1:40 p.m. GMT. With the exception of the German market, penalized more than the others by the slowdown in economic activity and its dependence on Russian gas, all these markets are heading towards a positive balance sheet over the week, for the first time in June.
The weekly rebound was also confirmed on Wall Street, which opened higher: the Dow Jones rose by 1.04%, the NASDAQ by 1.77% and the S&P 500 by 1.33% at the same time.
“This week, central bank officials reaffirmed their positions” of the previous week “without offering anything new that could move the markets”, summarizes Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda.
Before the US Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that a rapid rise in interest rates could cause a recession.
The previous week, a 0.75 percentage point rise in the Fed’s key rates had sent investors and prices tumbling.
But this week, “growing fears that rate hikes will trigger a recession have led investors to expect a slower pace of recovery over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid.
On the bond market, interest rates on government bonds fell significantly during the week, even though they rose a little on Friday.
As for economic statistics, after disappointing activity indicators in Europe and the United States on Thursday, it is the data on morale that are in the spotlight.
British consumer confidence fell further in June due to inflation, according to the GfK institute, and is at a level not seen since records began.
Tech and luxury in shape
Stocks in the technology sector benefited from the recent drop in interest rates. In Paris and London, Teleperformance rose by 4%, Dassault Systèmes by 3.69%, Darktrace by 4.59%. On Wall Street, Apple took 1.96%, Meta 2.77%.
Ditto for the luxury sector, for which the fall in interest rates improves the valuation of future profits. In Paris, LVMH gained 2.70%, L’Oréal 3.42%. In Milan, Moncler advanced by 3.25% and in London, Burberry took 3.03%.
On the side of oil and currencies
Oil prices were up after being rocked all week. Fears about an insufficient supply of crude to meet demand during the summer took precedence over those of a recession, in a context of galloping inflation.
Around 1:30 p.m. GMT, a barrel of Brent for delivery in August rose by 1.28% to 111.44 dollars and that of American WTI at the same maturity rose by 1.49% to 105.82 dollars.
The euro stabilized at 1.0533 dollars (+0.10%).
Bitcoin was up 2.26% at $21,265 around 1:40 p.m. GMT.