(New York) Western equity markets were more or less well digested Wednesday a salvo of statistics and the prospect of a possible monetary tightening of the Fed, on the eve of a holiday for the US markets.
The Dow Jones ended up almost breaking even (-0.03%), the NASDAQ index, led by technology stocks, gained 0.44%, and the extended S&P 500 index, 0.23%.
The European indices ended in dispersed order after a volatile session: Milan gained 0.68%, London 0.27%, Paris ended up close to equilibrium (-0.03%) and Frankfurt lost 0.37%.
Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, investors were treated to a flurry of macroeconomic statistics.
Among them, new weekly jobless claims in the United States fell in mid-November to their lowest level in more than half a century, confirming the robust recovery of the American labor market.
Too good news? The US Federal Reserve (Fed) had indicated that it was going to rely in particular on the job market to determine the pace of the reduction in its support to financial markets.
This statistic confirms market expectations for a hike in key rates earlier than previously envisaged.
In addition, inflation is at its highest for 31 years in the figures of the US Department of Commerce.
Investors “continue to digest the expectations of monetary tightening (by the Fed) more aggressive than expected,” noted analysts at Briefing.com.
The minutes released on Wednesday showed that several members of the Fed’s monetary policy committee discussed this scenario at their last meeting in early November, although there is no consensus yet.
“The message is that if they need to raise rates, they will, and I think that’s good for the market, not bad,” said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.
Investors can’t look to Europe for good news: Rising COVID-19 contaminations and restrictive health measures to try to contain it are weighing on the outlook.
In Germany, entrepreneurial morale fell in November for the fifth time in a row.
Vonovia takes advantage of the new German coalition
The real estate giant finished first on the Dax podium in Frankfurt (+ 5.01% to 51.90 euros), while the coalition agreement between social democrats, liberals and ecologists unveiled on Wednesday provides for the construction 400,000 new homes per year in the country, including 100,000 from public funds.
Clearance sale in distribution
The cast was cut to pieces, after new publications deemed disappointing in the United States.
Department store chain Nordstrom fell 29.03% to 22.06 dollars, guilty of presenting a net profit lower than expected by analysts and plagued by rising costs.
Free fall also for the textile chain Gap (-24.12% to 17.84 dollars), which launched a result warning, victim of insufficient supplies, results of disruptions linked to COVID-19.
In Paris, Carrefour lost 1.56% to 15.79 euros while in Frankfurt, Adidas fell 1.27% to 268.40 euros.
On the oil and bitcoin side
Oil prices were mostly flat on Wednesday, in a low-volume market ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, ignoring the pressure put on OPEC by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as well as the announcement of rising US stocks.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in January dropped 0.07% to 82.25 dollars.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the same month fell 0.14% to 78.39 dollars.
The European currency (-0.43% to 1.1199 dollars) was starting to fall again after a rebound the day before and even touched a low since the 1er July 2020.
Bitcoin lost 0.48% to $ 57,392.