(New York) Stock markets ended lower on Tuesday, lacking conviction and chafed by signs of renewed inflation in Europe and the United States which cast doubt on the extent of monetary tightening by central banks. .
In Europe, after a volatile session, red finally dominated the close: Paris lost 0.38%, Frankfurt 0.11% and London 0.74%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones fell 0.71%, the NASDAQ index fell 0.10% and the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.30%.
“The market is a bit sluggish, it needs more concrete elements to make its religion on the rise in rates,” said AFP Philippe Cohen, analyst at Kiplink.
Since Friday, investors have seen higher than expected inflation rates fall. In the United States, prices rose 5.4% in January year on year, a figure significantly above market forecasts of around 4.9%.
Revealed on Tuesday, inflation figures in France and Spain followed the same trend.
For France, inflation accelerated in February to 6.2% over one year, after a decline in December and January. In Spain, it rebounded very slightly in February to reach 6.1% over one year, driven by the rise in electricity prices.
But in New York, “there was no conviction today, either in one direction or the other,” commented Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “We spent the session hovering around the balance. »
This hesitation is explained in particular, according to him, by the fact that Tuesday was the last day of February, a month traditionally bad for stocks.
On the bond market, interest rates on sovereign debts tightened. The French 10-year rate climbed to 3.12%, its highest since April 2012, that of Germany at the same maturity reached 2.64% and the American rate 3.92%.
On Wednesday, Germany will publish its preliminary inflation figures, before those of the euro zone on Thursday.
Ocado does not pack
Online grocery retailer Ocado had a bad day on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday after reporting losses that doubled year on year due to rising costs as inflation curbed customer spending.
The title lost more than 12%, finishing last in the British place.
Target remains cautious
Corporate earnings didn’t help the US market find direction, with headliner Target (+1.01%) receiving a “fair” rating, according to Sosnick, “after several disappointments.”
The supermarket chain published better-than-expected results for the quarter running from November to January. CEO Brian Cornell described a “very delicate context” at the start of the year.
Adecco unscrews
The Swiss temporary work group Adecco saw its net profit fall by 42% in 2022 to 342 million euros, under the weight in particular of the costs of integrating Akka, which it bought last year, a- he announced on Tuesday.
The company’s share price fell 2.90% in Zurich.
On the side of currencies and oil
On the foreign exchange market, the euro yielded 0.30% against the dollar, at 1.0577 dollars for one euro.
Oil prices rose again on Tuesday, spurred on by fears about the impact of international sanctions on Russian exports, which could contract more than expected.
A barrel of Brent North Sea oil for April delivery gained 1.74% to close at $83.89.
A barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also expiring in April, took 1.81% to 77.05 dollars.