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MARKET REVIEWS. Western stock markets fell Thursday after two difficult sessions for risky assets, pending new data on US employment on which the trajectory of key rates from the US central bank depends in part.
Stock market indices at 8:30 a.m.
The futures contracts Dow Jones dropped 45.00 points (-0.14%) to 32,768.00 points. The futures contracts S&P 500 fell 13.75 points (-0.34%) to 3,981.25 points. The futures contracts Nasdaq fell by 70.00 points (-0.57%) to 12,158.25 points.
In London, the FTSE 100 fell by 56.93 points (-0.72%) to 7,872.99 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 gave up 33.79 points (-0.46%) to 7,290.97 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX dropped 71.08 points (-0.45%) to 15,560.79 points.
In Asia, the Nikkei Tokyo rose 178.96 points (+0.63%) to 28,623.15 points. For his part, the Hang Seng Hong Kong lost 125.51 points (-0.63%) to 19,925.74 points.
On the oil side, the price per barrel of American WTI fell US$0.05 (-0.07%) to US$76.61. The barrel of North Sea Brent rose US$0.03 (+0.04%) to US$82.69.
The context
In February, inflation fell in China to just 1%, its lowest level for a year. This inflation is very far from those experienced in Western countries, where central banks have been striving for months to break the inflationary dynamic.
“Employment is at the heart of the attention of the financial markets”, observes Alexandre Baradez, analyst for IG France.
“If the job market relaxes, rates relax and the stock market likes,” he explains.
The labor market is fueling inflationary pressures in the United States: according to the monthly ADP/Stanford Lab survey published on Wednesday, private sector companies created 242,000 jobs in February, more than in January and more than what was expected.
During this session, market participants will watch for any signs of improving or not improving employment by monitoring US jobless claims before turning their attention on Friday to the release of the monthly US jobs report. -United.
The solidity of American employment tends to confirm that the American Federal Reserve (Fed), which has been raising its rates for a year to slow down the economy by increasing the cost of credit, still has work to do in its fight against the high inflation in the United States.
The bond market is pricing in further Fed rate hikes as illustrated by the two-year U.S. sovereign borrowing rate, which stood at 5.05% on Thursday, a level not seen since 2007.
Before the next meeting of the Fed’s monetary policy committee, on March 21 and 22, officials of the institution will also have at their disposal the consumer price figures which will be published on Tuesday.
In London, the mining group Endeavor fell by more than 4% after announcing that it had fallen into the red last year, with a net loss of 66 million dollars. In its wake, Rio Tinto reflow of 1.05%, Glencore of 2.66%, antofagasta by 2.46% and BHP Group by 0.73%. In Paris, ArcelorMittal yielded 1.03% and Eramet lost 2.50%.
Oil stocks were also on the downside, like TotalEnergies (-1,36%) et Vallourec (-5.40%) in Paris, Shell (-1,02%) et BP (-0.81%) in London or Eni (-0.63%) in Milan and Repsol (-1.40%) in Madrid.
The yen rose 0.71% against the US dollar to 136.38 yen to the dollar, benefiting from cheap buying on the eve of a Bank of Japan (BoJ) meeting and the day after a low in three months.
The Japanese currency gained 0.59% against the European currency at 143.97 yen for one euro.
The lesson euro/dollar was little changed, at US$1.0557.
The european natural gas fell, touching a new low since August 2021: the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, traded at 41.35 euros per megawatt hour shortly after touching a new low for almost 19 months, at 40.50 euros.
Oil prices moved without any real trend after two sessions of decline.