European stock markets continued to rise. Paris ended up 0.44%, Frankfurt 0.80% and Milan 1.15%. London climbed 1.37%. In Zurich, the SMI gained 2.32%.
European markets followed a second session in the green on Tuesday, but Wall Street was unable to restart positively after having experienced its worst year since 2008.
After an opening in the green, Wall Street quickly backtracked: around 4:50 p.m. GMT, the Nasdaq fell by 1.26%, the S&P 500 by 0.91%, the Dow Jones by 0.67%.
European stock markets, most of which were already open on Monday, continued to rise, even if they lost ground compared to their level at the end of the morning: Paris finished up 0.44%, Frankfurt 0.80% and Milan by 1.15%. London, closed on Monday, climbed 1.37%. In Zurich, the SMI gained 2.32%.
On the bond market, sovereign yields eased markedly on both sides of the Atlantic. The rate of US 10-year debt was worth 3.80% against 3.88% at the last close.
This clearly upward trend in Europe – the Paris Stock Exchange took 2.32% in two sessions, that of Milan 3.13% – leaves analysts skeptical about its duration.
In Europe, “it is still difficult to say” whether the current movement stems from the convictions of asset managers over the coming months or from redemptions of positions at the start of the year, explains Pierre Veyret, analyst at ActivTrade .
Indeed, there remain “huge uncertainties regarding the war in Ukraine, inflation, interest rates and China’s response to Covid, among others”, adds Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda.
The economic news will intensify this week with the release of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve, figures on inflation in the countries of the euro zone and the monthly report on employment in the United States. United.
In Germany, inflation slowed markedly in December, against a backdrop of a lull in energy prices, before a further rise expected in early 2023, according to provisional data published on Tuesday. Over the whole of 2022, inflation rose to 7.9%, unheard of for several decades.
Sales down and prices down for Tesla
After the worst year in its history on the stock market and a loss of 65% of its value, the car manufacturer Tesla missed its start in 2023 and fell by 12.45% in the first exchanges.
The company delivered 1.31 million electric vehicles in 2022, which represents a record and a jump of 40% over one year, but remains below its own forecasts (+50% per year) and Wall’s expectations. Street. To boost sales, Tesla had offered unusual promotions to customers agreeing to take possession of a new car before the end of December.
Conversely, the European automotive sector was running at full speed: Michelin took 2.66%, Stellantis 1.17% in Paris, Volkswagen 1.88% in Frankfurt.
On the side of currencies and oil
The euro (-1.18% to $1.0541) and the pound (-0.69% to $1.1963) fell against the dollar around 4:45 p.m. GMT, as investors sold these currencies after sharp gains in December.
Oil prices fell on concerns about the economic consequences of the Covid wave in China. The barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in March lost 3.55%, to 82.90 dollars, and its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February, yielded 3.23%, at $77.68.
The benchmark contract for European natural gas, the Dutch TTF for delivery in February, fell 6.68% to 71.87 euros per megawatt hour, the lowest since the outbreak of war in Ukraine at the end of February.