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PARIS' CAC 40 BREAKS 7,000 POINTS MILESTONE (0837 GMT)
Who said the open would be boring?
The CAC 40, Paris' blue chip benchmark, just broke a key
milestone and reached over 7,000 points for the time, rising
about 0.3% while the pan-European STOXX 600 is up a modest 0.1%.
There isn't any particular driver for the Paris bourse but
Axa is doing some heavy lifting, up 2.2% after launching a 1.7
billion euro buyback. Apart from the insurer shining this
morning, no other French blue chips are rising above 2%.
Most regional benchmarks in Europe are trading slightly in
the black, with the exception of Germany's DAX which is
struggling to make it to the floatation mark.
Among big movers in early trades, Britain's THG is up over
7% but of course, in the grand scheme of things, it's still
about 70% lower than it was in September before a poorly
received investor presentation sunk its share price.
Another big jump was Erste Group, up 4.5% after Spain's
Caixabank sold its entire 9.9% stake in the Austrian lender.
See:
CAC 40: what's next? 7,000 points?
(Julien Ponthus)
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HEADED FOR $100 TRILLION (0811 GMT)
A week that started with expectations of hawkish central
banks, flattening bond yield curves and an equity correction is
heading for a calmer end after Fed assurances that rate hikes
were not yet on its mind and the Bank of England stunned markets
by keeping policy steady.
Bond curves are mostly steeper as rate hike expectations
retreat -- the two-year Treasury yield has tumbled more than 10
basis points off 19-month peaks of 0.5640% touched last week.
Britain's two-year gilt yield fell almost 21 bps after
Thursday's UK rate decision -- its biggest one-day fall since
the day after the 2016 Brexit referendum.
And with "real" or inflation-adjusted yields resuming their
fall, global equities appear headed towards the $100-trillion
market cap mark.
The odd central bank-fuelled hiccup will be thrown in,
doubtless, and don't forget China's property malaise -- shares
in homebuilder Kaisa were suspended after an affiliate missed a
payment, pulling Chinese bourses lower and knocking European and
U.S. futures.
Economic data meanwhile continues to underwhelm, with
Germany's industrial output down sharply in September, hit by
supply bottlenecks (Full Story). Japan's household spending fell
in September in a sign the economy shrank in the third quarter.
Watch now for euro area retail sales and U.S. monthly
payrolls data, which a Reuters poll forecasts will show 450,000
jobs added last month. Last month's report was a dismal one
remember, so stock market bulls will be watching.
Key developments that should provide more direction to
markets on Friday:
- British Airways parent company IAG ICAG.L said it was
heading for a 3 billion euro loss for 2021 L8N2RW1LA
-Honda lowers profit outlook 15% amid chip shortage
L1N2RW09Z
-Uber makes first ever quarterly operating profit (Full
Story)
-ECB speakers: Vice-President Luis de Guindos, board member
Fabio Panetta
-British house prices rose 0.9% in October (Full Story)
-Data: Euro zone retail sales, U.S. non farm payrolls
-Central Bank of Argentina meets
- Europe earnings; Amadeus, IAG
(sujata Rao)
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EUROPE: TIME TO TAKE A BREATHER? (0730 GMT)
European stock markets have been hitting new record highs
every session so far this week and the STOXX 600 is currently
set for weekly gains of about 1.6%.
If it manages to hold on to its gains, it would be a fifth
consecutive week of gains, its biggest rising streak since
April, according to Refinitiv data.
But European and Wall Street futures are signalling a pause.
Momentum seems to be fading and stocks will likely trade
slightly in the red when the bell rings at 0800 GMT.
There's little support coming from Asia where MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.4%.
That said, there's some action coming our way with some
indicators such as German industrial output, euro zone retail
sales and U.S. non farm payrolls as well Q3 results with Amadeus
and IAG notably.
(Julien Ponthus)
*****