(Paris) World stock markets held their breath on Thursday, before the publication at 8:30 a.m. of US inflation for October, figures that will influence investors’ expectations regarding US monetary policy.
Posted at 8:25 a.m.
In Europe, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange grabbed 0.15%, London 0.06%, Milan 0.44% around 8 a.m. While Paris fell by 0.30%.
Weighed down by disappointing corporate results, the debacle in the cryptocurrency universe and the Congressional elections whose outcome is still uncertain, the Wall Street indices fell sharply on Wednesday. Futures were up slightly on Thursday.
In Asia, Tokyo ended down 0.98%, Shanghai 0.39% and Hong Kong fell 1.70% in the latest trade.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam has seen a lot of bullish equities lately “hoping for a pivot from the Federal Reserve and some weaker numbers on inflation and the work market “.
However “the labor market remains extremely tight and on Friday we received another crucial report” to gauge whether the slowdown is severe enough for the US central bank to consider slowing its rate hikes.
In September, the consumer price index had slowed to 8.2%, but core inflation, adjusted for volatile food and energy prices, continued to accelerate and reached 6 .6% a plus for 40 years.
Rififi in Bitcoin
The Binance trading platform, which announced Tuesday evening the hasty acquisition of its rival FTX to support it in liquidity problems, abruptly gave up the operation the next day.
Binance mentions possible mismanagement of funds and the likelihood of an investigation by US authorities.
“The ripple effects across the industry have been severe so far, with the concern not just about what other cryptocurrencies might be exposed, but whether similar vulnerabilities exist elsewhere,” said Craig Erlam.
Bitcoin fell to its lowest since November 2020 at $15,570 on Wednesday. Around 8 a.m., it recovered 4.72% to $16,470.
“There is no denying the growing correlation between bitcoin and risky assets,” recalls Stephen Innes.
It was notably the shares of the technology sector which toasted, after the 2.48% drop in the NASDAQ on Wednesday.
Teleperformance suspended
Teleperformance shares were suspended from the Paris Stock Exchange, at the company’s request, after the Colombian Ministry of Labor opened an investigation into possible violations of labor standards.
The share price is stuck at 175.95 euros, down 33.90% from Wednesday’s closing price, which represents around 3.5 billion euros in market capitalization gone up in smoke.
The group said in a statement that it had “not received any official notification from the Colombian government” and wanted to launch a 150 million euro share buyback program to support the share price.
Astrazeneca spiked
British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, maker of one of the main vaccines against COVID-19, returned to profits in the third quarter, boosted by the increase in its sales. The action took 3.15% in London.
On the side of currencies and oil
Oil prices were down slightly after sharp declines the day before weighed down by sharply rising US commercial crude oil reserves last week. Around 8 a.m., a barrel of WTI yielded 0.59% to 85.30 dollars and a barrel of Brent from the North Sea dropped 0.43% to 92.26 dollars.
The dollar rose slightly by 0.63% against the euro, to 0.9949 dollars for one euro.