Headquarters of the London Stock Exchange
par Diana Mandia
Wall Street is expected to rise on Friday and the European stock markets are progressing at mid-session, after the decline of the day before, the indices being supported by energy-related stocks, although they remain on track to record their worst week for almost two months, while the American presidential election, the result of which promises to be very close, encourages investors to be cautious.
New York index futures signal Wall Street opening up 0.43% for the Dow Jones, 0.42% for the Standard & Poor’s-500 and 0.47% for the Nasdaq.
In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.79% to 7,408.51 points around 12:00 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax advances by 0.66% and in London, the FTSE 100 gains 0.97%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index is up 0.85%, the FTSEurofirst 300 is up 0.91% and the Stoxx 600 is up 0.91% after having fallen more than 1% the day before.
Stock markets return to gains toward the end of a week marked by uncertainty over the U.S. presidential election and a slew of company results that have clouded market sentiment, concerns over investments in intelligence artificial that caused technology stocks to fall on Thursday.
Oil prices, which continue to rise due to fears of escalating tensions in the Middle East and, in particular, a possible retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel, are boosting stocks linked to energy, the Stoxx compartment gaining 1.58%.
The American news site Axios reported on Thursday, citing two unidentified Israeli sources, that Iran could attack Israel from Iraq in the coming days.
With the macroeconomic and corporate results agenda being light in Europe on Friday due to the All Saints’ Day holiday, attention is focused on the United States, where investors are awaiting the monthly employment report on Friday at 12:30 p.m. GMT, the presidential election on November 5 and the next meeting of the Federal Reserve (Fed) on November 6-7.
The labor market report is expected to show an increase of 113,000 jobs in October, significantly lower than in September, due to disruptions from hurricanes and strikes by aerospace workers, which will make data difficult to analyze.
Employment and unemployment figures will be released a few days before the Fed meeting next Wednesday and Thursday, which is expected to conclude with a 25 basis point cut in interest rates, a scenario that Max McKechnie said strategist at JPMorgan, will not be challenged by the data.
On the political front, markets have been betting on a victory for Republican candidate Donald Trump against Democrat Kamala Harris for several weeks, but the race for the White House remains tight, which limits risk-taking.
VALUES TO FOLLOW AT WALL STREET
Amazon gains 5.8% in pre-market trading after publishing third-quarter profit and sales on Thursday evening that were higher than Wall Street’s expectations, reassuring the markets after expressing caution earlier this year.
VALUES IN EUROPE
Societe Generale, which already jumped on the stock market on Thursday after a better than expected third quarter, gained 3.6% after Morgan Stanley raised its recommendation on the stock and signed the best performance of the CAC 40.
Viridien lost 1.2%, the group specializing in subsoil exploration having reported on Thursday a 3% drop in its turnover from activities over the first 9 months.
The German meal kit company HelloFresh, for its part, advances by 4.9% on an increase in recommendation from JP Morgan.
In Amsterdam, Universal Music Group gained 2.7% after the publication of its quarterly results.
The travel sector is down 0.16%, led by Lufthansa shares falling 2.3% after HSBC downgraded its recommendation from “buy” to “hold.”
RATE
US bond markets edge up on Friday as investors await the US jobs report and next week’s presidential election.
The ten-year Treasuries yield rose 0.5 basis points to 4.2887% and the two-year yield rose 3.3 basis points to 4.1992%.
In the euro zone, yields are calming after hitting multi-week highs on Thursday, as investors bet on a slowdown in the pace of interest rate cuts by central banks.
In the euro zone, the yield on the ten-year German Bund increased by 0.6 basis points to 2.3970% and the two-year fell by 1.3 basis points to 2.3030%.
CHANGES
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar gains 0.09% against a basket of benchmark currencies ahead of the release of employment data, which could confirm that the economy remains robust ahead of next week’s monetary policy meeting and the American presidential election.
The euro lost 0.17% to 1.0865 dollars.
OIL
Oil continues to rise for the third day in a row as markets price the possibility that Iran is preparing a retaliatory strike against Israel.
Brent rose 1.96% to $74.24 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) advanced 2.15% to $70.75.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Augustin Turpin)
