Stoxx 600 up 1.6% in the first profitable week of 2022

The main European indices ended the week with a negative sign, as the new escalation of inflation in the US shows that it will accelerate the increase of the Fed interest rates, giving a lead to the liquidations. However on a weekly basis the Stoxx 600 recorded the first 5 days with profits in 2022.

In particular, the “jump” to a new high of 40 years presented by inflation in the US in January, moving to 7.5% on an annual basis and exceeding market estimates, initially seemed to be accepted with controlled reservations from the markets, however the climate was heavily burdened when Fed officials referred to the need for a more aggressive interest rate stance.

In particular, the head of the Fed of St. Louis James James Bullard said that the data on inflation now make his stance “dramatically” more aggressive, with him stating that he hopes for an overall increase in bank interest rates by an entire percentage point in the first half of the year.

Although markets have recently shown interest rates, both from the Fed and the other major central banks around the world, the possibility of a stronger-than-expected intervention continues to be a cause for concern.

However, several Fed officials have reacted to calls such as Bullard for large interest rate hikes, suggesting that the Fed is likely to start raising more modestly.

In this climate, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed with losses of 0.59% at 469.57 points, with the technology sector leading the losses with a fall of 2.2%. In the week, however, the Stoxx 600 added 1.6%.

In the individual dashboards, the German index DAX The French fell 0.42% to 15,425.12 points CAC 40 fell by 1.27% to 7,011.60 points and the British FTSE 100 lost 0.15% to 7,661.02 points.

In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB recorded losses of 0.82% at 26,966.10 points and the Spanish IBEX 35 fell 0.99% to 8,798.10 points.

In the individual shares, the British food and beverage company Tate & Lyle jumped 9.5% after announcing strong results for the quarter. The Swedish engineering company Sweco rose by almost 9% after the results of the fourth quarter.

At the “bottom” of the European blue chip index, the Spanish utility company Naturgy Energy plunged “12%” after the announcement of the plan to split the company into two parts.

German food distribution company Delivery Hero fell 12% on Friday as analysts at Barclays and JPMorgan cut their share price target after weak 2022 earnings forecasts.

At the end of the day, the British economy moved at a faster pace than analysts had estimated in December, with the country’s GDP showing slight shrinkage 0.2% against a forecast of 0.6%.