Paris (awp/afp) – On the financial markets, bond interest rates started to rise sharply again on Friday, in a nervous market a few days before the presidential election in the United States, and stocks are rising, driven by to them by Amazon's results.
On the bond market, where rates move in the opposite direction to their price, the yield on two-year US government bonds fell to 4.06% during the session before climbing to 4.17% around 4:55 p.m. GMT, moving around its highest levels since July.
The yield on ten-year US government bonds was at 4.34%, compared to 4.28% at the close on Thursday, also moving close to its highest since July.
Despite “the good performance of the American economy”, publications have come to “pollute” the picture, in particular that of job creations published on Friday, comments Florian Ielpo, head of macroeconomic research for Lombard Odier IM.
In October, only 12,000 jobs were created, according to the Labor Department. This is much less than expected since analysts were counting on 110,000, according to the Market Watch consensus.
Furthermore, manufacturing activity in the United States deteriorated more than expected in October. The index measuring this activity stood at 46.5%, compared to 47.2% in September. However, analysts saw the index recovering, to 47.6%, according to the Market Watch consensus.
If these data were initially favorably received on the bond market, with investors seeing them as arguments in favor of a further rate cut by the American central bank next week, the uncertainties surrounding the presidential election in the United States United finally very quickly regained the upper hand.
“The two candidates remain neck and neck” in the polls “and if the number of votes for each candidate is too close, we could know the winner only the next day, or have to wait several days, while the ballots are stripped across the country,” explain Deutsche Bank analysts.
Furthermore, “a Trump victory, combined with his intention to increase customs duties, could radically change the trajectory of rate cuts, by slowing them down or even interrupting them,” estimates Stephen Innes, analyst at Spi AM.
On the foreign exchange market, around 5:00 p.m. GMT, the American currency gained 0.31% against the euro, to 1.0850 dollars for one euro.
On the American equity markets, the Nasdaq advanced by 0.92%, the Dow Jones by 0.88% and the S&P 500 by 0.63%.
In Europe, Paris finished up 0.80%, London 0.83%, Frankfurt 0.93% and Milan gained 1.15%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index advanced by 1.09% but its weekly balance sheet was negative (-1.52%). In Zurich, the SMI gained 1.48%.
The markets are supported by the results of Amazon, the American technology giant, published the day before. The group's stock soared by more than 6% on Wall Street, driven by results well above market expectations in the third quarter.
Apple also published quarterly results on Thursday that were slightly better than expected, but the group's speech on artificial intelligence disappointed: its title lost 1.67%.
Daimler backtracks ___
Analysts are wary of Daimler Truck's third quarter results (1.32% in Frankfurt), which will be revealed on November 7: vehicle sales would have fallen by 11% in the third quarter year-on-year, according to MWB analysts taken up by Factset.
Reckitt blanchi ___
The British hygiene and health products group Reckitt Benckiser, which counts Durex, Harpic and Nurofen among its brands, took 6.62% in London after one of its subsidiaries was cleared of accusations according to which it had concealed potential risks in its formulas for premature babies.
Oil on the rise ___
On the oil market around 5:00 p.m. GMT, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea rose 0.70% to $73.32, and its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), rose 0.68%. at $69.73 per barrel.
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