European stock markets open in the green

(APMF IN-DOW JONES) European stock markets are heading for a higher open on Friday.

IG expects an opening gain of 53 points for the German DAX and an increase of 23 points for the French CAC 40. The British FTSE is looking to open 41 points higher.

Stock markets in Europe ended higher on Thursday after a fairly quiet bull day.

In London, the FTSE 100 index strengthened its record after the Bank of England clearly hinted at an upcoming interest rate cut in its interest rate decision.

“We need to see more evidence that inflation remains low before we can cut interest rates,” Andrew Bailey, head of the Bank of England, said on Thursday, explaining the interest rate decision. “I’m optimistic that things are moving in the right direction.”

There was a clear shift towards a more pessimistic stance, with two members of the Policy Committee voting in favor of cutting the interest rate by 25 basis points, while seven members voted in favor of maintaining it. Analysts had expected only one negative vote.

“The Bank of England is undoubtedly becoming more optimistic, but is keeping its options open in light of the uncertainty surrounding inflation rates in the near future. We still expect the first rate cut to take place in August,” ING said.

On a macroeconomic level, it was announced on Thursday that Chinese exports increased more than expected in April, by 1.5 percent, as well as imports, which increased by 8.4 percent.

Company news

Siemens Energy led the German DAX with gains of 3.3 percent. RWE shares rose 2.5 percent. Zalando came in last place in Frankfurt, losing 2.9 percent.

Furthermore, European automakers’ stocks performed well, as did oil stocks.

In Paris, Carrefour advanced by 2.3 percent. Accor was the biggest loser in the CAC 40, with a loss of 2.4 percent.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria launched a hostile bid for Banco Sabadell on Thursday, after Sabadell rejected BBVA’s bid earlier this week. Sabadell shares rose 3.2 percent. BBVA shares fell by 6.7%, pushing the Madrid Stock Exchange lower.

BE Semiconductor Industries has received an order for 26 hybrid interconnect systems. Bessie was not informed of who issued the order. Pacey also did not want to limit the extent of participation in this mission. The stock rose 3.6 percent in Amsterdam, while the AEX index strengthened its record, well above 900 points.

British television channel ITV maintained its annual forecast, although the quarterly numbers were lower than expectations. Advertising revenue forecasts remained optimistic with expected growth of 12 percent. The consensus has so far reached only 5 percent. The share price rose 3.0 percent.

Telefonica performed better than expected in the first three months of the year and maintained its forecast for 2024. Telefonica’s stake is receiving a major boost from Spain’s state-owned SEPI, which is increasing its stake in the telecom company. On May 3, the share was 7.08 percent and is expected to rise to 10.0 percent. The price fell 0.7 percent.

Nexi maintained its full-year outlook, after revenue and earnings beat expectations in the first quarter. The Italian payments company maintained its expectations and announced a share buyback program worth 500 million euros. The price rose 6.4 percent.

In Brussels, heavyweight Argenex fell more than five percent after announcing the results and halting a research program. The Bel20 also suffered greatly as a result.

Euro Stoxx 50 5,054.41 (+0.3%)
STOXX Europe 600 516.77 (+0.2%)
DAX 18,686.60 (+1.0%)
CAC 40 8,187.65 (+0.7%)
FTSE 100 8,381.35 (+0.3%)
SMI 11,602.21 (+0.8%)
IEX 904.21 (+0.5%)
Bill 20 3,985.40 (-0.8%)
FTSE MIB 34,339.32 (+0.6%)
IBEX 35 11,050.10 (-0.9%)

US stocks

Wall Street is looking for a positive opening on Friday.

US stock markets ended higher on Thursday and are once again closer to record levels.

On a macroeconomic level, it was announced that the number of new applications for unemployment benefits in the United States rose much faster than expected last week. The number of new applications for unemployment benefits reached 231,000, an increase of 22,000. 214,000 new applications were expected.

This could signal growing weakness in the US labor market, which investors could consider good news, according to Naeem Aslam of Zaye Capital Markets, because it could force the Fed to start cutting interest rates sooner rather than later.

Investors already started the week optimistic about the prospect of an interest rate cut, following last week’s weak US jobs report.

However, several Federal Reserve managers have tempered these expectations in recent days and bond yields have risen slightly again. After Fed Director Neel Kashkari indicated on Tuesday that he would not completely rule out a rate increase, his colleague Susan Collins weighed in on Wednesday by stressing that the current interest rate policy will remain unchanged for a longer period of time until there are signs of this. Inflation is rising sustainably towards 2.0 percent.

Investment specialist Kevin Verstraete from online broker Lynx said that more than 91 percent of the market currently expects no policy change in June, while the chance of an interest rate cut in July is estimated at less than 10 percent.

The yield on US ten-year bonds rose earlier in the day, but fell by two basis points to 4.46 percent on Thursday evening. The two-year alternative fell slightly to 4.82 percent.

Oil prices rose further on Thursday after the Energy Information Administration announced the previous day that US oil inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels last week. A slight increase was expected.

However, Robert Jawger of Mizuho Securities warned that the market will always return to fundamentals, “which is not good at the moment,” the analyst said.

Company news

Shares of Beyond Meat fell 14.4 percent after the meat substitute producer’s outlook for the second quarter was disappointing. Vacation home rental company Airbnb’s forecasts were also below market expectations. The stock lost 6.9 percent.

Arm’s US listing lost 2.3 percent on Thursday. The British chip manufacturer also gave a disappointing market forecast.

Cinema chain AMC Entertainment released final first-quarter numbers in after-hours trading on Wednesday, as the loss narrowed. The stock fell 4.1 percent. Analysts are concerned about the company’s debt mountain.

Shares of Solar Edge Technologies, which develops battery systems, fell 8.5 percent on Thursday after its losses widened in the first quarter. Turnover forecasts for the second quarter were also disappointing.

Technology company AppLovin achieved convincing results, achieving a price increase of 14.5 percent.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a larger-than-expected loss last quarter, but the stock rose 3.1 percent, possibly on news that the entertainment group would collaborate with Disney on streaming services.

Shares of carrier US Cellular rose nearly 28 percent Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that peers T-Mobile US and Verizon Communications are in separate talks to split US Cellular. Shares of Telephone and Data Systems, which owns 80% of US Cellular, rose 28%. Shares of T-Mobile US and Verizon rose about 1 percent.

S&P 500 5,214.08 (+0.5%)
Dow Jones 39,387.76 (+0.9%)
Nasdaq Composite 16,346.26 (+0.3%)

Asia

Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Friday.

Nikkei 225 38,156.94 (+0.2%)
Shanghai Composite 3,147.25 (-0.2%)
Hang Seng 18,859.60 (+1.7%)

Currencies

The EUR/USD was trading at 1.0775 this morning. On Thursday evening, the currency pair was trading at 1.0782.

USD/JPY 155.69 yen
EUR/USD EUR 1.0775
EUR/JPY 167.76

Overall agenda:
08:00 Economic Growth – Q1 (UK)
08:00 Trade Balance – March (UK)
08:00 Industrial Production – March (UK)
4:00 PM Michigan Consumer Confidence – May vlpg (US)

Company News:
– There are no items on the agenda

Source: ABM Financial News

ABM Financial News is a resource for stock market news, video and data, both for real-time trading platforms and trading rooms and for online and offline media publications. The information in this article is not intended to provide professional investment advice or a recommendation to make particular investments.