Paris (awp/afp) – World stock markets are gaining optimism on Tuesday on the eve of the New Year break, with investors looking towards 2025 and its macroeconomic unknowns.
At 1:50 p.m. GMT, the futures contracts of the main stock indices on Wall Street were moving in the green, the Nasdaq gaining 0.33%, the S&P 500 0.31%, and the Dow Jones at 0.23%.
In Europe, at the end of a shortened session, the Paris Stock Exchange ended up 0.92%.
However, this was not enough to make up for the delay in the CAC 40, which lost 2.15% over the whole of 2024 to 7,380.74 points.
The Paris Stock Exchange has been weighed down by political uncertainty since the dissolution of the National Assembly in June and has also been affected by weak growth in the euro zone and the poor economic situation in China.
London ended its last session of the year at +0.64% at 8,173.02 points.
The FTSE 100, the main index of the British market, recorded an increase of 5.69% over twelve months for 2024, after a historic peak in May at 8,474.41 points during the session.
The Frankfurt, Zurich and Milan stock exchanges remained closed on Tuesday.
Like other European markets, “the performance (of the United Kingdom) is low compared to the returns observed on markets dominated by technology stocks on the other side of the Atlantic”, notes Matt Britzman , analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
On Wednesday, European Asian and American places will be closed for the New Year’s day off.
During this final session of 2024, the European indices, which had opened slightly lower, turned around.
In the absence of many investors in the markets during this holiday season, transactions are few, making the markets particularly volatile.
News from Beijing may have been received positively by the world’s stock markets.
“We need to deepen reform, expand high-level opening-up, better coordinate development and security, (and) implement more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies,” President Xi Jinping said at a meeting on Tuesday. official New Year’s reception, according to official media.
In addition, figures released Tuesday reveal that Chinese manufacturing activity increased in December for the third consecutive month, a positive sign about China’s ability to achieve its growth targets.
The health of the Chinese economy will be scrutinized by the markets again in 2025, as the country tries to extricate itself from an economic slump.
Also in the crosshairs, the installation of Donald Trump in the White House on January 20 and his first economic policies, particularly on the subject of customs duties or immigration, which will influence inflation.
Luxury believes in Xi ___
The luxury sector, closely linked to the Chinese market, showed positive signals: Burberry ended the session up 1.83%, Dior 1.34%, Kering 0.49% and LVMH 0.99%. In cosmetics, L’Oréal gained 1.32%.
Siemens pumped up ___
The industrial giant Siemens (+319.83%) is the stock that increased the most in 2024 on the STOXX Europe 600, an index bringing together the largest European capitalizations.
The group made up for a very complicated year in 2023 due to inflation and breakdowns in the wind sector in particular. A share that was worth 11.88 euros at the start of the year is now worth 50.38 euros.
Happy New Year for the dollar ___
The year 2024 was marked by a gap between a resilient American economy and a gloomy euro zone, which is also visible in terms of currencies.
“The Dollar Index is currently consolidating its gains at its highest levels in more than two years, and could continue to extend its gains” depending on the situation in 2025, illustrates Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
At 1:40 p.m. GMT, the dollar was stable at 0.10% against the euro, at 1.0396 dollars per euro.
On the bond side, the yield on the American ten-year bond was at 4.52% at 08:40 GMT, compared to 4.53% the day before.
In a market with little trading, the price of oil was not very dynamic on Tuesday.
At 1:40 p.m. GMT, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent was stable at -0.01% at $73.98. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was +0.01% at $71.00.
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