European stock exchanges are expected to open lower while waiting for announcements from the ECB. Thus, the Eurostoxx 50 opens this Thursday, June 9, 2022, at 3,788.93 points (-0.47%), the CAC 40 at 6,448.63 points (-0.80%), the DAX 40 at 14,445.99 points (-0.76%), the FTSE 100 at 7,593.00 points (-0.08%), the SMI at 11,467.39 points (-0.58%), the AEX at 710.99 points (+0.26%), the BEL 20 at 3,901.04 points (-0.10%), the IBEX 35 at 8,842.70 points (+0.01%), the DJIA at 32.910.90 points (-0.81%), the Nasdaq at 12,086.27 points (-0.73%), the S&P 500 at 4,115.77 points (-1.08%) and the Nikkei 225 at 28,352.43 points (+0.42%).

As for exchange rates, the change from the close in New York, EUR/USD was 1.0730 (+0.10%), EUR/JPY at 143.88 (-0.02%) and USD/JPY at 134.10 (-0.12%).

Worldline and Rubis are bringing their shareholders together at a general meeting on Thursday, as the reopening period of the tender offer (OPA) launched by Vivendi for the media group Lagardère comes to an end. The final results of this tender offer are expected on 14 June. In 2021, YSL reached a turnover of 2.52 billion euros, up 45% over one year. Its operating margin stood at 28.3%. Soitec announced that it expects further growth in sales and margin for the fiscal year ending in March 2023, after nearly tripling its net profit over the past fiscal year.

European equity markets are expected to continue their downturn on Thursday, as investors await the monetary policy decision of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the press conference by its president, Christine Lagarde. At 7:30am, the CAC 40 futures contract lost 31 points, or 0.5%, according to data from the IG Markets broker. The DAX 40 contract lost 73 points, or 0.5%, and the FTSE 100 contract dropped 33 points, or 0.4%.

In the United States, Wall Street closed in the red on Wednesday as the market remained concerned about the global economic outlook and inflation. The Dow Jones Index (DJIA) lost 0.8% to 32,910.90 points, and the expanded S&P 500 index dropped 1.1% to 4,115.77 points. The Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.7% to 12,086.27 points. The White House warned Wednesday that inflation figures in May, expected Friday, would be “high.” Inflation slowed slightly in April, to 8.3% over one year, while remaining close to its highest level in 40 years.

Markets fear stagflation, an economic slowdown associated with high inflation. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lowered its global growth forecast for 2022 to 3% on Wednesday, down from 4.5% previously. The day before, the World Bank cut its growth forecasts and indicated that the current situation was similar to the stagflation of the 1970s.

In this context, and although Chinese exports rebounded in May thanks to the lifting of numerous health restrictions in the country, Asian indices hesitated on Thursday. At the end of the session, the Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5% and the Hang Seng on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lost 0.2%. In Tokyo, on the other hand, the Nikkei index gained 0.5%. China's exports grew 16.9 percent year on year in May, after growing 3.9 percent in April, according to data released by the Chinese Customs Administration on Thursday. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal anticipated an 8% increase in exports.

U.S. Treasury bond yields continued to rise on Thursday. The two-year bond rate, the most sensitive to changes in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, is at its highest levels in more than three years. At 7:30am, this rate stood at 2.795%, compared with 2.766% on Wednesday evening. The outlook for growth and inflation, while many global central banks, including the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and the ECB, are tightening monetary policy, remain at the center of market attention. The ECB's monetary policy decision on Thursday and the May consumer price index in the United States, due to be released on Friday, will be the main events of the week for investors.

The euro rose slightly against the dollar on Thursday morning, as investors await announcements from the ECB. The single currency could increase its gains if the ECB leaves the door open for a 50 basis point increase in interest rates at its next meetings, believes Ebury. The ECB is expected to announce on Thursday that it will raise interest rates for the first time in July, but the real question is how much they will rise, said Mai Tran, a currency analyst at Ebury, in a note.

According to Exinity Group, the euro could cross the $1.08 threshold from $1.0727 on Thursday morning, if Christine Lagarde signals that the ECB could end negative rates as early as July. The dollar's fall spread to most major currencies on Thursday, with the exception of the yen, which remained around 20-year lows. The Japanese currency could weaken further if wage growth in Japan remains weak, a situation that could prevent inflation from reaching the Bank of Japan's 2% target, Rabobank believes.

Oil futures continued to advance Thursday morning and remain firmly anchored above $120 per barrel, supported by a favourable demand outlook following the release on Wednesday of data showing a fall in crude and gasoline inventories last week in the United States. Around 7:20 a.m., the August North Sea Brent contract earned 45 cents, at $124.03 per barrel. The July contract for light sweet crude (WTI) traded on Nymex was 33 cents at $122.43 per barrel.