(CercleFinance.com) – If Frankfurt gains 0.2%, most European markets are in the red this Thursday (-0.4% in London and -0.6% in Paris), followed by New York on day earlier, where comments from Federal Reserve officials bolstered the prospect of monetary tightening.
“John Williams, chairman of the New York Fed, reaffirmed the Fed’s commitment to continue tightening monetary policy despite the risk of an economic slowdown,” Wells Fargo noted Wednesday evening.
“San Francisco Fed Chair Mary Daly was also aggressive after she said a pause in rate hikes was not on the agenda,” the California bank continued.
Even in the old continent the time has come to tighten monetary policy, despite a very slight downward revision of inflation in the euro area to +10.6% on an annual basis in October, a rate still accelerating after +9.9% of September.
In values news, Siemens jumped more than 7% in Frankfurt, as “remarkable” fourth-quarter performance for the industrial conglomerate helped it post “record” profit for the year.
Traders are less enthusiastic about the sharply improved annual results of the thyssenkrupp steelmaker (-1% in Frankfurt), and especially the quarterly publication of the Bouygues conglomerate (-5% in Paris).
