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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – The European stock markets are performing positively, having weakened after a tonic start under the weight of sales in particular in utilities, pharmaceuticals and mining. The markets are watching with concern risk of a surge of populist forces in the French political elections, while an agreement on the key figures of the new European legislature could already emerge from the summit of the heads of state and government of the European Union in Brussels. Political tensions in France lead Paris to lose its lead in Europe in terms of market cap to London, less than two years after winning the title from the United Kingdom.
All eyes are also always on the next moves of the central banks matter of monetary policy: this week focus on the United Kingdom with inflation in May, expected to slow down, which will be released on Wednesday 19 June on the eve of the meeting of the Bank of Englandwhich is not expected to cut rates before the end of the summer.
Thus, the FTSE MIB in Milan is the best on the Old Continent, while the CAC 40 in Paris is also on the rise, The DAX 30 in Frankfurt, and the AEX in Amsterdam. On equality The FT-SE 100 of London, while the IBEX 35 of Madrid.
Paris loses its lead in Europe in terms of market cap, overtaken by London
Paris loses its scepter as the leading European stock market by capitalization after the fall of the last few sessions (-6.2% last week) due to the surprise outcome of the vote for the European Parliament which paved the way for new parliamentary elections in France. The capitalization of the French stock market – according to data reported by Bloomberg – has fallen to 3,130 billion dollars leading to it being overtaken by London (3180 billion). With the losses of the last week, the Cac40 has erased all the gains since the beginning of the year (the overall balance at the close of Friday was +0.5%) while London has risen by approximately 5% since the beginning of 2024.
Wall Street mixed, S&P and Nasdaq heading towards new records
Wall Street is moving mixed. S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are fresh from the seventh week of growth out of the last eight, during which they recorded intraday and closing records. For the Dow Jones, however, third week of decline in the last four. After the latest inflation data, investors are placing their bets higher an interest rate cut in September: According to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, the odds increased from 45.1% a week ago to 59.5%. Last Wednesday, the Federal Reserve, as expected, kept interest rates unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%; from the ‘dot plot’ graph on the bankers’ forecasts, however, it emerges that it is now estimated a single interest rate cut by 25 basis points during 2024, compared to the three that had been forecast in March.
