European stock markets close negative after the Fed withdraws rate cuts

The main European stock markets closed this Thursday with generalized losses, after learning on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve (Fed) of the United States (US) will maintain interest rates at the current rate and does not contemplate an imminent drop.

During the session, other macroeconomic data relevant to the markets were released, such as the industrial activity indices (manufacturing PMI) of some countries in the euro zone, the CPI of the euro zone or new requests for unemployment benefits from the US.

The parks that fell the most in the session were Paris, 0.89%, and Madrid, 0.63%; followed by Frankfurt, 0.26%, Milan, 0.18% and London, 0.11%.

The Eurostoxx 50, an index in which the companies with the largest market capitalization in the euro zone are listed, lost 0.21%, according to market sources consulted by EFE.

All the places began the session with losses, a trend that they were unable to reverse even though they sailed without a fixed course throughout the day.

This Thursday the manufacturing PMIs of some countries in the euro zone were published. While those of Germany, Spain and Italy rose more than expected, that of France failed to meet the markets’ expectations.

The consumer price index (CPI) of the euro zone was also released, which fell one tenth in January, to 2.8% in an interannual rate, as well as core inflation, which also fell one tenth, to 3.3%.

In the US, Wall Street opened the session with gains. The Dow Jones industrials rose 0.23% at the closing time of the European markets, while the S&P 500 gained 0.26% and the Nasdaq gained 0.49%.

The Fed announced yesterday that it will maintain interest rates between 5.25% and 5.5%, its highest level since 2001, although it announced that, if the economy continues to evolve positively, there will be drops during this year, but not in the next meeting in March.

Today the weekly figure for new unemployment benefit claims in the US was published, which rose to 224,000, that is, 9,000 more than the previous adjusted figure.

In Asia, the stock markets ended the session with a mixed sign. While the Nikkei in Tokyo fell 0.76%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.52% and the CSI 300, which combines the 300 companies with the largest capitalization of the Shanghai and Shenzhen indices, rose 0. .07%.

In the raw materials market, a barrel of Brent, Europe’s benchmark oil, rose 0.60% to $81.22.

Gold rose 1% at the close of European markets and cost $2,059.93 per ounce.

For its part, the euro appreciated 0.3% to 1.0851 dollars.

Bitcoin, the main cryptocurrency, lost 0.04% and was around $42,440.20.

In the debt market, the yield on the German bond, considered the safest, lost 2 basis points and closed at 2.144%.