USA AND EUROPE EQUITY REPORTED MIX TRADE
European stock indexes traded flat to lower on Monday, starting the first full week of December in cautious mood, as investors eye the release of services PMI surveys and European retail sales data later today. On the corporate front, online German broker Flatex cut its guidance, while Vodafone's CEO Nick Read stepped down and will be replaced by finance chief Margherita Della Valle. Meanwhile, Equities in London fluctuated between small gains and losses on Monday, with the benchmark FTSE hovering near a six-month peak of 7,550 points, as gains in the materials and technology sectors off losses in energy. Asia-focused Prudential rallied more than 2% to lead the FTSE 100, while Persimmon, down almost 3%, was among the biggest laggards. In other corporate news, Britain's Vodafone Group said Chief Executive Nick Read would step down at the end of this year.
The CAC 40 index is down 17points and trading to close at 6,730 .On the corporate front, Teleperformance was the best performer, rising nearly 3.3%. The French office services and call center company, which has come under pressure in Colombia over its employee relations, said on Thursday it had signed an agreement with UNI Global Union to strengthen workers' rights to form trade unions and engage in collective bargaining. On the opposite side, Worldline (-2.3%), Stellantis NV (-2.1%) and Sanofi (-1.9%) posted the biggest losses. The CAC 40 index managed to end the week about 0.4% higher.
The FTSE MIB index trading positive today and closed 24,630. Energy shares led the losses in Milan as investors continued to monitor talks between EU states regarding a price ceiling on Russian seaborne oil services ahead of the start of the embargo on Monday. Tenaris drove the losses for the sector with a 1.6% decline. Policy-sensitive consumer discretionary brands also extended their losses during the session, with Moncler down 3.2%. On the other hand, heavy-weighing banks traded on the green, with Finecobank and Banca Generali adding over 2%. UniCredit underperformed the sector to close near the flatline after announcing some higher labor costs in line with its accord signed with unions this week.
The IBEX 35 index was flat to lower around 8,377 on Monday, with investors cautiously monitoring key economic data for major economies in Europe. The final PMI data showed euro zone business activity declined for a fifth month in November, suggesting the economy was sliding into a mild recession as consumers cut spending amid surging inflation. Domestically, Spain's private sector rebounded slightly more than expected in November, ending a two-month sequence of contraction. Market sentiment was tempered by optimism around the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in China. On the corporate front, Indra was leading the losses, down over 2%, while Grifols jumped 7% after Morgan Stanley raised the company to "overweight" from "equal-weight" and raised its target price to 14 euros from 13 euros.
US stock futures eased on Monday as the market entered a quiet period ahead of the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting, while awaiting more US data to gauge the health of the economy. Futures contracts tied to the three major indexes all fell about 0.1%. In regular trading on Friday, the Dow rose 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite shed 0.12% and 0.18%, respectively, closing little changed after recouping most of the earlier losses triggered by a stronger-than-expected November jobs report. Meanwhile, expectations that the Fed will slow the pace of interest rate hikes starting this month remained intact, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell expressing support for such a move. Investors now look ahead to more US economic reports this week including services activity, consumer sentiment and producer inflation data.
