WITHDRAWAL IN EUROPE, CONCERNS FOR WALL STREET AND FOR CHINA
PARIS (Archyde.com) – The main European stock indices fell in early trading on Monday following Wall Street closed sharply lower on Friday and concerning Chinese indicators, which prompted markets to be cautious two days before the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated decisions. American.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1.15% to 6,458.38 points around 07:40 GMT and in Frankfurt, the Dax dropped 0.63%. The EuroStoxx 50 index is down 1.5%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.82% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.86%.
The London Stock Exchange is closed, the day being a public holiday in the United Kingdom.
US markets had their worst session since 2020 on Friday as worrying inflation figures came on top of disappointing results and forecasts from Amazon, Apple and Intel: the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3 .63%, its biggest one-session drop since June 2020, and the Nasdaq Composite plunged 4.17%, not seen since September 2020.
These figures illustrate the nervousness of investors in a context marked simultaneously by the tightening of monetary policies by the major central banks, the acceleration of inflation, supply difficulties and the war in Ukraine.
The latest economic indicators also confirm the scenario of a global slowdown: in China, the official PMI indices reflect a worsening contraction in the manufacturing sector as in services and in Germany, retail sales fell in March .
The main event for the coming week will be the meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to announce a half-point rate hike on Wednesday in an attempt to curb rising prices. The Bank of England might raise its key rate on Thursday by a quarter point for the fourth time.
On the equities side, all the major sectors of the European rating fell, the most marked declines being for those of automobiles (-2.39%) and high technologies (-2.04%).
Mercedes-Benz shows a decline of 6.08% which is mainly explained by the detachment of the dividend.
In Paris, among the most marked declines in the CAC 40, STMicroelectronics dropped 2.2% and Kering, exposed to China, 2.34%.
Airbus, for its part, lost 0.7% despite the announcement of an order for 40 planes from the Australian company Qantas, including A350s intended to connect Sydney and London non-stop.
(Written by Marc Angrand, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
