European stock markets ended in the green on Friday but below their highs of the day after wall Street opened lower on the prospect of the Trump administration closing on December 31 one of the liquidity taps open since the beginning of the health crisis to support the US economy.

In Paris, the CAC 40 closed with an increase of 0.39% (21.23 points) to 5,495.89 points after gaining up to 0.9%.

In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.2% and in Frankfurt, the Dax rose 0.39%. The EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.45%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.45% and the Stoxx 600 0.52%.

At the time of the close in Europe, Wall Street was losing ground, with the Dow Jones losing 0.29% and the Standard & Poor's 500 0.12% even though the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.14%.

U.S. investors have not welcomed the announcement by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin of a request to stop at the end of the year several of the loan programs to companies and local authorities implemented since March, for a total amount of 455 billion dollars (384 billion euros), judging that these sums would be better used to help small and medium-sized enterprises.

Several Fed officials regretted this choice, stressing that these programs provided significant support to the economy.

On the markets, the news is all the more unwelcome as the coronavirus epidemic in the United States, the cause of the economic crisis, continues to accelerate, which has led more than 20 states in the country to take curfew measures.

The situation is different in Europe, where the beginning of the slowdown of the second wave of the epidemic gives hope for an early easing of containment measures.

For the week as a whole, the Stoxx 600 gained 1.15% and the CAC 40 2.15%, recording their third consecutive positive weekly performance, which had not happened since early June.

securities

The best sector performances of the day in Europe were for the commodities and oil and gas segments, both of which the Stoxx indices gained 1.54%. In Paris, Total took 1.1%, Eramet 4.13%.

In the news of the results, the German specialist of the e-commerce Zalando ended on a gain of 1.09% after saying it expects an acceleration of its growth next year.

Also noteworthy is the rise of the Italian banks BPER Banca (+4.10%) and Banco BPM (+3.72%) after the statements of Unipol, BPER's largest shareholder, in favour of a merger of the two groups.

On the downside, British software publisher Sage fell 13.39% after reporting a decline in its annual operating profit.

TODAY'S INDICATORS

In Europe, retail sales in the United Kingdom recorded an unexpected increase of 1.2% in October.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Like equities, the currency market is torn between the hope of even a partial deconfinement in Europe and the renewed concern related to US fiscal policy.

The dollar rose again against a basket of reference currencies (+0.08%) after falling at the beginning of the day to its lowest level since November 9.

The euro is trading at $1.1852 after rising to $1.1890.

rate

Benchmark bond yields are limiting their decline, a sign that concern over Steven Mnuchin's unexpected move remains under control.

U.S. Treasuries fell just over a basis point to 0.8423% after returning to 0.818% at the beginning of the session, its lowest level since November 9.

Its German equivalent ended the session at -0.587% after returning to -0.588%, again an 11-day low.

petroleum

The oil market remains well oriented and is expected to record its third consecutive week of gains, thanks to hopes for COVID-19 vaccines and postponement of production increases by OPEC and its allies.

Brent gained 0.32% to $44.34 a barrel and U.S. light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 0.22% to $41.65.

The week ends for the moment with an increase of 3.7% for Brent and 3.8% for WTI.

TO BE FOLLOWED ON MONDAY:

The first session of the week will be animated mainly by the publication of the "flash" PMI indices of activity in Europe, which should make it possible to measure more precisely the impact of the reconfinement on the activity of companies.