Headquarters of the London Stock Exchange
by Claude Chendjou
Wall Street should rebound on Tuesday at the opening for the last session of 2024, while the European stock markets, open on this New Year's Eve, are also on a positive note as the close approaches.
New York index futures signal Wall Street opening up 0.19% for the Dow Jones, 0.26% for the Standard & Poor's 500 and 0.31% for the Nasdaq.
In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.35% to 7,339.24 points around 10:45 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 advanced 0.36%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index increased by 0.20%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.15% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.17%.
The markets are closed on Tuesday in several European countries, notably in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, while the session will be shortened on open markets, with a closing at 1:00 p.m. GMT for the Parisian CAC 40.
Due to the low volumes traded, today's trend is volatile, with some investors also choosing to reduce their positions at the dawn of a new year of monetary uncertainty with the American Federal Reserve (Fed) and on the political plan with the entry into office of Donald Trump.
The major stock indices are also on high valuations, with the S&P 500 having climbed almost 24% in 2024, while Chinese stocks recorded their first gain since 2020.
Over the whole year, the CAC 40, weighed down by luxury and political uncertainties in France, is currently down 2.68%.
The FTSE in London, for its part, is currently recording an annual gain of 5.43%, heading towards a fourth consecutive year in the green.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 has gained 5.59% since the start of the year, while the Dax in Frankfurt, with a jump of almost 19%, has outperformed other places in Europe.
European stocks reached an all-time high in September, benefiting from Wall Street's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI) and key rate cuts from the European Central Bank (ECB).
From a sectoral perspective in Europe, banks (+25.62%) and insurers (+17.93%) are expected to post the best annual performances, while the food and beverages compartment (-12.81%) %), as well as that of automobiles (-12.18%) should show one of the biggest declines.
VALUES TO FOLLOW AT WALL STREET
Sangamo Therapeutics plunged 47.4% in after-hours trading, as the group announced that Pfizer had ended their partnership in the development of a hemophilia A gene therapy.
VALUES IN EUROPE
The European oil and gas sector advanced by 0.61%, driven in particular by BP (+1.11%), Shell (+1.26%) and TotalEnergies (+0.84%). A statistic released Tuesday showed that manufacturing activity in China grew for a third consecutive month in December.
RATE
The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds fell by 2.6 basis points, to 4.5187%, after having gained almost 70 basis points since the start of the year.
The yield on the German Bund of the same maturity is stable, at 2.369% after having flirted on Monday with its highest levels of mid-November, in the wake of the rise in US Treasury yields.
CHANGES
The dollar, which has at this stage gained more than 6% since the start of the year, close to a two-year high, fell 0.09% on Tuesday against a basket of reference currencies.
The euro took the opportunity to nibble 0.06%, to 1.0413 dollars. The single European currency is, however, expected to decline by more than 5% this year against the greenback, due to the difference in pace of monetary policy between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the American Federal Reserve (Fed).
The British pound trades at $1.2549 (-0.02%), heading for a loss of around 1% in 2024.
OIL
The oil market benefits from today's Chinese statistics: Brent rose by 0.59% to $74.43 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) by 0.68% to $71.48.
Over the whole year, however, the two oil benchmarks are expected to lose 3.2% and 0.1% respectively, due to concerns about demand in the main crude consuming countries.
NO MAJOR ECONOMIC INDICATOR ON THE AGENDA FOR DECEMBER 31
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, with contributions from Sruthi Shankar in Bangalore, editing by Kate Entringer)
