Renta 4 : European stock markets open moderately higher (Eurostoxx futures +0.3%) after positive US closes, in a session where the S&P 500 posted its best daily performance since November 2022.
Yesterday’s better than expected initial jobless claims in the US (233,000 4-week low) helped to alleviate some fears about the US labour market. This helped equity markets, and we also saw a steepening in fixed income, with the US IRR close to breaking the 4% barrier after rising again +4 bps in the session (+21 bps since Monday August 5th, today morning 3.96%).
The latest US employment data have confirmed the divergence of the economic cycle with Europe. While it is true that the latest macroeconomic data in the US were somewhat weak, the good tone of the ISM services and weekly unemployment claims helped to alleviate the doubts about the US economy. However, in Europe, Monday’s PMIs (final data) reaffirmed the idea of a further deterioration of the cycle in the Euro zone.
Today in the morning, China’s CPI for July showed a +0.5% year-on-year (+0.3%e versus +0.2% previously), the fastest pace of increase since February, and the PPI fell -0.8% year-on-year (-0.9%e versus -0.8% previously) in the month of July. These inflation figures, well below the 3% target, lead the market to expect new measures to boost consumption and the services industry.
