Paris (awp/afp) – World stock markets are generally up slightly on Wednesday, a few hours before the publication of the results of American electronic chip champion Nvidia, the world’s largest capitalization.
In Europe around 12:20 GMT, Paris took 0.12%, Frankfurt 0.24%, Milan 0.15% and Zurich 0.46%. London lost 0.10%.
Pre-market contracts on Wall Street were up slightly, with a gain of 0.20% for the Dow Jones, 0.23% for the Nasdaq and 0.16% for the S&P 500.
“One of the most anticipated days of the results season, if not the most anticipated, has finally arrived,” notes Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank.
The American semiconductor champion Nvidia presents its third quarter results at the end of the day, after the close of Wall Street.
The group became the world’s largest capitalization at the beginning of November, after overtaking Apple, displaying a market capitalization of approximately $3,480 billion, ahead of the Apple firm’s $3,400 billion.
This is much more than the total weight of certain indices, such as the French CAC 40 or the Dax in Germany.
“Nvidia has an opportunity to consolidate its dominant position or trigger a market revaluation that could ripple through the technology sector and beyond,” according to Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
“Given the very high expectations, one might wonder whether the company can still surprise,” warns Christopher Dembik, investment specialist at Pictet AM.
“In the short term, it is possible that we will see a negative reaction from the market. This will be a good excuse to take profits,” he adds.
Investors will be on the lookout for any information regarding the new Blackwell chip, “the most powerful in the world” according to Nvidia, which promises commercialization by the end of the year.
It would suffer from overheating problems, according to recent information from American media.
On the European side, Christine Lagarde’s speech around 1:00 p.m. GMT to open the annual conference of the European Central Bank (ECB) on “financial stability and macroprudential policy” in Frankfurt will be closely followed.
The institution is expected to turn the corner on its future rate cuts, while growth remains sluggish in the euro zone and the economic gap threatens to widen with the United States after the election of Donald Trump.
The bond market is easing after experiencing strong demand the day before due to tensions in Ukraine. Around 12:20 GMT, the ten-year German benchmark bond reached 2.37%, compared to 2.33% the day before at close. Its American equivalent rose to 4.43%, compared to 4.39%.
Sage flies away
The British business software publisher Sage soared 18.99% on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday around 12:20 GMT after announcing an increase of more than 50% in its annual net profit and a share buyback program.
FDJ falls
La Française des Jeux (FDJ) lost 4.83% around 12:20 GMT on the Paris Stock Exchange after Crédit Agricole Assurances (CAA) announced on Wednesday the sale, via its subsidiary Predica, of some 4 million shares, or 2, 2% of the capital of this company, at a price of 36.60 euros per share.
Bitcoin still at the top
Bitcoin remains at high levels after its rise in recent weeks in the wake of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency of the United States.
The star of cryptocurrencies exceeded the $94,000 level for the first time during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, and caught its breath around $93,641 around 12:20 GMT.
On the exchange side, the greenback gained 0.39% against the single European currency, to 1.0554 dollars per euro.
Oil prices are also climbing, against a backdrop of escalation in Ukraine and tensions between the West and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Around 12:20 GMT, the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea gained 0.34% to $73.56, and that of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by 0.59% to $69.80.
afp/al
