The selection is at its February 2020 maximum, despite strong US consumption raising fears of more aggressive Federal Reserve (Fed) policy
European stock markets are holding back the gains, albeit much more moderately than at the opening, following the release of US retail sales in January. , key to the future of Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy.
The referral has been powerful. Despite price increases and the inflationary crisis, retail sales rose by 3% compared to December, well above the expected 1.8%. When the data is compared to that of just a year ago, it rose 6.4%, also better than forecasts.
After knowing the data, the Ibex loosened up in the gains and continued to gain 0.2%, with the banks being the main ballast of the selective. But at the end, it accelerated to finally close out the session with a 0.34% increase to 9,294 points. The highest level since February 2020.
ArcelorMittal (+2.28%) led the top of the table, ahead of Endesa (+1.49%), Acciona (+1.19%), Acerinox (+1.09%), Iberdrola (+1.07%) and Telefonica (+1.07%). The main downward pressure came from Merlin Properties (-1.14%), Banco Santander (-0.84%), Mapfre (-0.77%) and Enagás (-0.65%).
Investors have also listed a new wave of corporate results, in which Naturgy played the leading role, with a 0.3% drop after reporting a record net profit of EUR 1,649 million in 2022, an increase of 35.8% compared to the previous year .
The green numbers were also imposed on other European stock markets, despite Wall Street’s weakness. And it is that on the other side of the Atlantic more and more analysts are joining the camp of those who think the Fed will raise its interest rates by 25 basis points twice more, until the final interest rate is around 5.1%.
However, the experts are aware that the scenario has changed significantly compared to what the market was discounting a few weeks ago. They believe that the resistance from major economies, as well as the resistance to inflation slowing down, “could lead to central banks having to raise interest rates more than expected and keeping them at that level for longer,” they said. them on. Link effects.
The market is now also doubting whether the Fed will start cutting rates before the end of the year. Similarly, atl Capital’s managers do not expect negative growth in any of the major geographic economies, at least not in the first part of the year.
“The macroeconomic scenario points to global economic growth of 2.9%, with the United States and Europe growing by 1.4% and 0.7% respectively. guys. In the United States, once or twice more to 5.5% and two or three times, in the case of Europe, to 3.5%,” they state in their 2023 forecast report, presented this Wednesday.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
