Paris closes at equilibrium (-0.03%) while Frankfurt (+0.22%) ends on a timid rise like London (+0.24%). In Zurich, the SMI fell by 0.08%.
Stock markets were hesitant on Friday as the war in Ukraine showed no signs of improving and oil prices rallied following a massive fire at an oil facility in Jeddah hit by an attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels.
The European indices ended a volatile session cautiously: Paris closed at equilibrium (-0.03%) while Frankfurt (+0.22%) ended on a timid rise like London (+ 0.24%). In Zurich, the SMI lost 0.08%.
Wall Street was also looking for a direction: the Dow Jones indices and the S&P were moving around balance while the Nasdaq, an index with strong technological coloring, yielded 0.87% shortly following the European close.
“In the absence of significant developments, the equity markets are relatively stagnant and might remain so until progress is made” on the geostrategic level, observes Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda.
“Volatility remains in the commodities sector, which contributes to daily fluctuations in equity markets,” he adds.
Nickel prices soared with non-stop trading on Friday following last week’s chaotic rally on the London Metal Exchange (LME). On Friday around 4:30 p.m. GMT (5:30 p.m. in Paris), a ton of nickel traded at 35,260 dollars on the LME, following reaching 40,700 dollars in the same session.
Faced with the rise in commodity prices and its impact on inflation levels, the confidence of American consumers, worried regarding their purchasing power in the coming months, fell in March to its lowest level since more than ten years, with the war in Ukraine further clouding the outlook. That of British consumers has been falling for four months, according to a study by GfK.
In Germany, the morale of entrepreneurs also collapsed in March, a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which produced a historic drop in economic expectations, worse than at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the IFO barometer.
Markets have been driven lately by the evolution of the war in Ukraine and don’t have a very clear view of what it might cost.
Inflation expectations, which continue to rise, resulted in a fairly significant rise in rates this week on the sovereign debt market, where the yield on the ten-year French bond rose back above 1%, a first for four years. The US rate of the same maturity was approaching 2.50% and the Italian rate was now above 2% on Friday.
Rebound in oil and bitcoin
Oil prices were down for the second day in a row until the announcement at the end of the followingnoon of a gigantic fire at an oil installation in Jeddah hit by an attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels.
The barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in May rose above 120 dollars, (+1% to 120.23 dollars) following having lost more than 2% earlier.
Ditto for the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery which rose 1.02% to 113.46 dollars.
After declining, oil stocks ended up 1.96% for TotalEnergies, 7% for Vallourec, 0.64% for BP, 1.73% for Exxon and 1.45% for Repsol.
Bitcoin rose on Friday as the cryptocurrency was mooted by the Kremlin as a potential means of payment for Russian gas, whetting investor appetite as the sector appears to be regaining public interest.
“This assertion should be taken with a grain of salt, for several reasons. Not least is Russia’s widely known opposition to cryptocurrencies,” Erlam said.
The price of bitcoin briefly exceeded $ 45,000 during the session, a symbolic threshold that it has only reached three times since the marked losses in early January. Around 5:10 p.m. GMT, it took 0.71% to 44,193 dollars.
The euro dropped 0.10% to 1.0988 dollars.