World stock markets are trending downward at the opening on Friday, with the market fearing that the American central bank (Fed) will further delay its first rate cut after signals of resilience from the American economy.
In Europe, around 07:30 GMT, the Stock Exchange Paris dropped 0.54%, that of Frankfurt 0.76% and London yielded 0.68% and Brussels (Bel 20) dropped around 0.60% at the opening.
In Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed down 1.17% and Hong Kong fell 1.68% in late trading.
“The fear of interest rates is back and is weighing on the minds of market participants,” says independent analyst Andreas Lipkow.
This picture of the American economy thus supports the hypothesis of a continuation of the aggressive monetary policy of the Fed, postponing the deadline for a first rate cut by the American monetary institution.
To bring inflation back to 2%, the Fed raised rates between March 2022 and July 2023, pushing them up to the range of 5.25-5.50%, their highest level in 20 years, and has remained at this level since.
In terms of the European macroeconomy, Germany recorded an increase in its gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, after having experienced a sharp decline at the end of last year and over the whole of 2023, weighed down by the crisis in its industry.
TotalEnergies corrects the situation
The CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné indicated on Thursday that he was studying a stock listing “in New York, as in Paris”, without commenting on the possibility of a main listing in the United States which has been in the news for several weeks.
Questioned by Le Figaro on the question of whether the group was indeed studying “a primary listing in New York”, the CEO mentioned “a translation error”: “A ‘primary listing’ in our mind is not not a ‘main listing’, it is the listing of the TotalEnergies share, in New York as in Paris”, explained the CEO.
The title dropped 0.56% on the Paris Stock Exchange.
Oil down slightly
Oil prices are rather falling around 07:15 GMT, affected by signs of resilience in American economic activity, which suggest the continuation of a high interest rate policy.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in July fell 0.09% to 81.29 dollars. That of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) of the same maturity dropped 0.14%, to 76.76 dollars.
The euro was stable (+0.02%) against the greenback, at 1.0818 dollars per euro.
Bitcoin lost 1.02% to $67,060.
Nvidia soars on the stock market, announces an exceptional division of its stock and is already hot on the heels of Apple
China sees red
Chinese stock markets were also down at the opening, for the fourth consecutive session, in a climate of investor concern about a possible pause by the American Federal Reserve (Fed) in lowering interest rates.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost 0.67% to 18,742.28 points.
In Shanghai, the composite index fell by 0.18% to 3,110.75 points, while the Shenzhen square was also in the red, falling by 0.28% to 1,749.13 points.
