Stock Market: What moves in the markets before Friday’s opening

Markets were losing ground on Friday morning, owing to the resurgence of the risk of Sino-US tensions after the first contact between Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On Wall Street, around 7:15 am, futures Standard & Poor’s 500 He lost 8 points, down 0.2% to 3904 points. Those from Dow Jones And 54 points fell by 0.17% to 31,305 points, while those declined Nasdaq The index fell 20 points, or 0.15%, to 13,708 points.

In Europe, the markets hesitated in the middle of the session. in London , FTSE 100 Index It increased 9 points, or 0.15%, to 6,538 points. In Paris , CAC 40 It was close to break even (-0.02%) at 5,669 points. In Frankfurt, Dax It lost 65 points, down 0.47% to 13,975 points.

In Asia, Chinese stock markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, which reduced volumes in the markets.

in Japan , Nikki It fell after four straight sessions of Friday’s rise in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Japanese main index lost 0.14% to 29,520 points, however, during the week it rose 2.6%.

Context

After a two-hour telephone interview with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, US President Joe Biden declared: “If we do nothing, they will crush us.” He also denounced, according to the White House, Beijing’s “unfair and coercive” economic practices.

Swissquote Bank analyst Ibek Ozkardskaya explains words that may refer to the new cold war season between the two countries and should affect growth prospects.

A new danger that has not been incorporated into the sessions this year is emerging. The trade war between China and the US could reverse the trend, ”analysis by Saxo Bank.

But for Christopher Dembek, associate director at Berenberg, “At this point, there is no major cloud that affects the stock market environment at the start of the year.”

While the economy is still declining at the start of the year, financial markets firmly believe in the economy’s ability to recover, convinced that budget and monetary efforts will continue in the meantime to support growth.

On the oil side

Around 7:30 am, the price of an American barrel West Texas Intermediate Return of 0.72%, to $ 57.82, for a barrel Brent In the North Sea it fell 0.61% to $ 60.77.