European stock markets open higher despite falls in Wall Street and Asian markets

The main European stock markets have opened this Thursday’s session higher despite the declines recorded on Wall Street and in the Asian markets after the publication of the minutes of the US Federal Reserve (Fed)which have cooled expectations of an upcoming interest rate drop.

Minutes after opening, London rose 0.4%; Paris and Frankfurt, 0.2%, Milan, 0.3%; and Madrid, 0.6%. The Euro Stoxx 50, which groups the largest European companies, advanced 0.2%.

Previously, in Asia, the Nikkei, the main Japanese stock market index, had fallen 0.53%; while Shanghai had dropped 0.43% and Seoul, 0.78%.

On Wall Street, the main indices closed in red yesterday after the minutes of the last Fed meeting were published.

The Dow Jones lost 0.76%; the S&P500, 0.8%; and the technological Nasdaq, 1.18%.

According to the content of the minutes, the members of the Federal Reserve consider that interest rates have reached their peak, or are close to it, but they leave the door open to further increases if economic conditions require it.

In the opinion of Renta4 analysts, the Fed minutes suggest that rates will remain high “for longer than the market had a priori begun to discount.”

In the US, yesterday the ISM index for December was also released, which shows a better-than-expected performance of the manufacturing sector.

Investors will today be watching the service sector activity indices (PMIs) of the eurozone, several European countries and the US.

Other points of interest will be preliminary inflation data in France and Germany, and the US private employment survey for December.

In the debt market, the price of European sovereign bonds recovers slightly and, consequently, profitability decreases.

The yield on the German bond, considered the safest, drops to 2.008%.

In the oil market, prices rise due to increased tension in the Middle East. Brent, the benchmark crude oil in Europe, rises 0.9% and is selling at almost $79 per barrel.

The price of gold, one of the safe haven assets in times of uncertainty, is advancing slightly and is around $2,047 per ounce.

In the currency market, the euro gains ground against the US dollar and is exchanged at 1.094 units.

Bitcoin, the most used cryptocurrency, maintains the downward trend and is below $43,000.