Ahead of Powell's speech and inflation in the eurozone, European stock markets are expected to rise. The Eurostoxx 50 opens at 3,934.44 points (-0.03%), the CAC 40 at 6,668.97 points (+0.06%), the DAX 40 at 14,355.45 points (-0.19%), the FTSE 100 at 7,512.00 points (+0.51%), the SMI at 11,077.81 points (-0.76%), the AEX at 717.74 points (+0.51%), the SMI at 11,077.81 points (-0.76%) (-0.38%), the BEL 20 at 3,659.13 points (-0.62%), the IBEX 35 at 8,322.10 points (-0.01%), the DJIA at 33,852.53 points (+0.01%), the Nasdaq at 10,983.78 points (-0.59%), the S&P 500 at 3,957.63 points (-0.16%) and the Nikkei 225 up to 27.968,99 points (-0.21%).

With regard to the change in exchange rates compared to the close, mention that in New York, EUR/USD is at 1.0357 (+0.25%), EUR/JPY at 143.39 (+0.06%) and USD/JPY at 138.45 (-0.19%).


Today, investors will take the pulse of the French economy with figures for inflation in November, gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter and household consumption in October. The CEO of Orange, Christel Heydemann, is being heard by the Senate's Economic Affairs Committee with regard to businesses.

In a market described as promising but “penalized by significant supply difficulties and high inflation”, the leisure vehicle manufacturer Trigano published a “record” net profit for the financial year ended at the end of August 2022 on Tuesday evening. During the past financial year, Trigano generated a net profit of 278.5 million euros, up 24.9% over one year. For its part, the digital assistance service provider Solutions 30 announced the signing of a new syndicated loan of 100 million euros with seven banks.

With a busy macroeconomic agenda awaiting investors, European equity markets are expected to start Wednesday's session in a green light. They will pay particular attention to the speech to be delivered by the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, in Washington on “the economic outlook, inflation and the labor market.”

The FTSE 100 contract increased by 29 points, or 0.4%, and the DAX 40 contract gained 75 points, or 0.5%. For data from the IG Markets broker, the CAC 40 futures contract gained 34 points, or 0.5% at 7:35 a.m.

UBS Global Wealth Management believes that Jerome Powell's remarks to the Brookings Institution could give investors an idea of the tone the Fed will take at the next meeting scheduled for December 13 and 14. For its part, the financial intermediary believes that some fear that the central banker will be restrictive and thus cause the equity markets to erase the gains made over the past two months. Markets will follow the eurozone inflation figures in November, the ADP survey of private sector employment in the United States, the second estimate of US GDP in the third quarter and the Fed's Beige Book, except for the remarks of Jerome Powell, who will speak at 19:30 (Paris time).

The health situation in China also remains under surveillance. The authorities announced on Tuesday an acceleration of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign for the elderly. A decision that, according to SPI Asset Management, seems to indicate that the country is slowly moving towards reopening.

The main Asian stock exchanges changed little on Wednesday. At the end of the trading session in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.2% while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2%. In the wake of the fall on Wall Street, the Nikkei closed down 0.2% in Tokyo. Indeed, American markets lost ground on Tuesday, concerned about the situation in China. The Nasdaq Composite, rich in technology stocks, lost 0.6%, the expanded S&P 500 index lost 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Index (DJIA) closed at breakeven.

As investors took in the comments made by some members of the Federal Reserve, US Treasury bond yields rose on Tuesday. These Federal Reserve members estimated that borrowing costs would likely remain at a high level for several years. The probability that the Fed will raise rates by 75 basis points on December 14 has increased to 32.5%, compared with a probability of 24.2% a week ago according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. After the announcement of a slowdown in inflation in Germany in November, the 10-year rate of the German Bund fell by 7.2 basis points on Tuesday, to 1.923%, on the other side of the Atlantic.

While waiting for Jerome Powell's speech and the major economic indicators to be published in the eurozone and the United States this week, the euro rose against the dollar on Wednesday. According to Silicon Valley Bank, the foreign exchange market is responding to numerous themes other than Fed rate hikes. For the bank, “it's not just the dollar that rises or falls against other currencies.” He recalled that China dominates the news. Silicon Valley Bank added that the statements of Chinese officials are causing some optimism that the world's second-largest economy will reopen.

This morning, crude oil futures rose, driven by the hope of an easing of health restrictions in China, the world's largest oil importer. For the CBA, “this hope stems from the conciliatory tone adopted by the Chinese National Health Commission, in particular on the excessive nature of the application of Covid controls.”

For ActivTrades, “this announcement follows unprecedented protests against President Xi [Jinping], and signals for the first time that Beijing may consider relaxing its draconian measures to combat Covid.” In addition, the market is waiting for the next OPE+ meeting, scheduled for 4 December, on production quotas. Amid growing concerns about health restrictions in China and Russia's production capacity, OPEC + is likely to decide to leave production levels unchanged on Sunday, according to delegates from the group, which brings together the 13 nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and ten allies led by Russia.

When the group decided to cut production by 2 million barrels per day, according to delegates, OPEP+ is leaning towards maintaining production at the levels agreed in October. They specified that Sunday's meeting would be held by videoconference.

The January contract for light sweet crude (WTI) listed on Nymex was trading 56 cents at $78.76 per barrel, while the February contract for North Sea Brent earned 57 cents, at $84.82 per barrel at 7:25am.