The main European stock markets continued in the “red” on Friday, with investors adjusting their estimates for the next moves of the European Central Bank in the fight against inflation, considering the possibility of a faster-than-expected tightening of monetary policy.
The ECB kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, despite a rally to a new all-time high of 5.1% in January, with bank chief Christine Lagarde Notes, however, the concern of officials for the jump in prices. Lagarde stressed that the ECB will wait until its next meeting in March, when it will have more information, to determine its next moves.
Many analysts, however, have already revised their interest rate forecasts this year, setting the interest rate on zero at the end of the year at -0.50%.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Commerzbank AG and Bank of America Corp. are among those who revised their forecasts and now see the deposit rate reach 0% in December, according to Bloomberg.
In this climate, the pan-European index Stoxx 600 fell 1.38% to 462.15 points, with the auto industry recording the biggest losses with a “dip” of 3.3%, after coming under pressure from data in the UK that showed that new car sales last month were 23% lower than pre-pandemic levels and the prospect of stricter emissions controls. The oil and gas sector was the only one to close in positive territory.
In week the Stoxx 600 fell 0.7%, while the big gainer of the 5-day period was the banking sector with an increase of 2.4%.
In the individual dashboard, the German DAX recorded losses of 1.75% at 15,099.56 points, the French CAC 40 slipped 0.77% to 6,951.38 points and the British FTSE 100 fell 0.17% to 7,516.40 points.
In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB the Spaniard lost 1.79% to 26,603.59 points IBEX 35 fell 1.15% to 8,589.30 points.
In the individual sharesSwedish manufacturer Assa Abloy gained 6.98% after announcing strong gains for the whole of 2021.
The securities of Caixabank and Banco de Sabadell moved higher, adding 4.9% and 7.09% respectively. Oil giants BP and Shell both gained more than 3%.
At the bottom of the Stoxx 600, Swedish medical technology company AddLife fell 26.3%, despite announcing a 59% increase in its profits for 2021. The company announced on Thursday that its CEO, Kristina Willgard, will resign this year .
In macro of the day, Eurozone retail sales fell in December due to the increase in coronavirus cases with the spread of Omicron, according to Eurostat. Retail sales volume decreased by 3% in December compared to the previous month, after increasing by 1% in November. Economists had forecast a smaller drop of 0.5% for December.
In Germany processing orders increased in December, exceeding estimates amid ongoing supply chain problems. Manufacturing orders rose 2.8% month-on-month in December, on adjusted terms, following a revised 3.6% rise in November, according to Destatis.
Source: Capital
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