(Paris) The drop in oil prices was appreciated Thursday by the stock markets which, however, continue to ask questions about the levels of inflation and the response of central banks to this problem.
Around 7:25 a.m., Paris rose slightly by 0.18%, driven by luxury goods, and Frankfurt gained 0.07%. On the other hand, London (-0.18%) was penalized by its oil stocks.
For its part, the futures contracts on Wall Street augured an opening up the day after a decline in the US indices which led to the Asian markets down Thursday morning.
Crude prices fell quite significantly, a movement helped by the resumption of the pandemic and press reports according to which “the US administration has asked several economic powers to release part of the strategic oil reserves to relieve the pressure on prices ”, indicates Alexandre Baradez, analyst at IG France during a daily press briefing.
President Joe Biden is seeking to moderate the rise in fuel prices which is contributing to soaring inflation. This is the highest since 1990 in the United States, where consumer prices are up 6.2% year on year.
The pressures on the global supply chain and rising energy prices pose a challenge for businesses, but also for the inflation outlook and therefore for central banks.
Some institutions have started and others are preparing to reduce the scale of the extraordinary monetary stimulus measures that were put in place during the pandemic. But in the event of more persistent inflation than expected, they could decide to accelerate the withdrawal of this support and to raise their key rates sooner than expected.
“Faced with the reality of monetary normalization, will there then be an adjustment of the market? “Asks Mr. Baradez.
Confident Thyssenkrupp
The German conglomerate (+ 6.52% to 10.86 euros in Frankfurt) saw its results improve markedly during its staggered 2020/2021 financial year. For the 2021/2022 financial year, the conglomerate expects a “doubling” of its operating profit, between “1.5 and 1.8 billion euros”, and a net profit of “1 billion euros”, despite “Temporary difficulties” related to current shortages of materials.
Continental CFO sacked
The board of the German automotive supplier sacked its financial director, Wolfgang Schäfer, 62, on Wednesday evening, with immediate effect. The decision was taken “in the context of the Hanover Public Prosecutor’s current investigations” into dieselgate, the company said.
He is replaced by Katja Dürrfeld, 49, currently CFO of the ContiTech division. The action lost 2.55% to 107.96 euros in Frankfurt.
Exceptional dividend at Royal Mail
The title of the British postal group climbed 5.32% to 461.30 pence, driven by the publication of an operating profit of 311 million pounds for its first half, against a loss of 20 million a year earlier. It announces redistributing 400 million pounds to its shareholders via a share buyback program of 200 million and the rest in the form of an exceptional dividend.
Alibaba suffers from regulatory tightening
The Chinese e-commerce giant on Thursday announced an 81% decline in its net profit in the second quarter of its staggered fiscal year, as Beijing tightens the screw on the digital sector.
Crude prices ebb
Oil prices retreated a little Thursday after hitting a month-long low, the market fearing to see an abundant supply coming from the strategic reserves of the United States, but also of China.
At around 7:10 a.m., the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for January delivery fell 0.30% to $ 80.04, after falling to $ 79.28, a low since early October.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the month of December lost 0.43% to $ 77.99, its lowest since early October.
The euro stabilized against the dollar on Thursday after hitting a new low since July 2020 the day before. Around 7:30 a.m., the euro recovered 0.18% to $ 1.1341 per euro.
Bitcoin fell 1.04% to $ 59,492.