At the start of trading, the European stock exchanges are able to put the slip of the eve behind them and start the session in positive territory. The Dax advanced by 0.6%, while the Ftse 100 and the Cac40 show growth of 0.9% and 0.4% respectively.
The scenario remains uncertain with investors looking at the war in Ukraine, the surge in US inflation and the surprise hawk of the European Central Bank (ECB). In particular, the main European stock exchanges woke up with Asian equities under pressure due to the lack of agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the ceasefire and the continuing fears of an acceleration of inflation.
Yesterday, US consumer prices hit 7.9% yoy in February, the highest level since January 1982, with food and energy costs driving prices higher. Alert from US Treasury Secretary and former Fed number one Janet Yellen, who warned about the risk of “very high inflation” due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, and therefore due to fears related to the offer of important commodities such as oil, wheat, natural gas.
Yesterday was the day of the European Central Bank (ECB) which surprisingly showed a more hawkish attitude than expected by announcing a faster tapering with QE that will go from 40 billion euros in April to 30 billion in May and 20 billion in June. Next week it will be the turn of the Fed meeting and analysts are aiming for six rate hikes in 2022.
At a macro level, the week ends with German GDP and consumer confidence calculated by the University of Michigan.