Higher start expected in Brussels | Beursduivel.be

(ABM FN) The Brussels stock exchange is expected to start higher on Friday. Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 index indicated an increase of almost one percent about an hour before the stock exchange bell.

American futures were in the green this morning, after better-than-expected figures from Alphabet and Microsoft after trading on Wall Street on Thursday.

The Brussels stock exchange closed even lower on Thursday, with the Bel20 losing 0.7 percent to 3,857.94 points. The surrounding stock exchanges also closed in the red.

Although the day started cautiously yesterday, the financial markets received a cold shower at half past two, after the growth of the American economy in the first quarter was much lower than expected at 1.6 percent. In the fourth quarter the economy grew by 3.4 percent.

What was particularly striking in the report, however, was that consumer prices rose by 3.4 percent in the first quarter. That was well above the 1.8 percent increase in the previous quarter. And core prices increased by 3.7 percent. That was 2.0 percent in the last quarter of 2023.

“This means that core PCE inflation for March [vandaag om 14:30 uur geagendeerd] is also higher than expected,” market analyst Philip Marey of Rabobank told ABM Financial News. The weak growth figure indicates that the momentum in the economy is declining faster than expected. “But that is apparently for the markets of later concern,” said Marey.

Meta Platforms, parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, among others, also weighed on sentiment on Wall Street on Thursday with a drop of more than 10 percent after a disappointing outlook with strong quarterly figures.

On Wall Street, the main indexes initially fell sharply, but after the close on the European stock exchanges, much of the losses were erased. The main indicator S&P eventually limited the loss to just under half a percent, after initially losing more than one and a half percent.

Alphabet, parent company of Google, gained more than 11 percent in after-hours electronic trading after it announced it would pay a dividend for the first time. In addition, the company will buy back $70 billion worth of its own shares.

After the fair, Microsoft also exceeded expectations. Revenue rose in the third quarter from $52.9 billion to $61.9 billion, or a growth of 17 percent, and operating profit rose 23 percent to $27.6 billion. The share gained 4.5 percent after hours.

The Asian stock markets were mainly in the green on Friday morning. The leader was the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong with an increase of approximately two percent, while the stock exchanges in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai gained roughly one percent. Sydney was the discordant with a loss of more than one percent.

The Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged this morning at 0 to 0.1 percent. In March, the central bank said goodbye to negative interest rates for the first time in eight years. Inflation in Japan appeared this morning to have reached 1.8 percent in April, after an increase of 2.6 percent in March.

In response to the inflation figures and the interest rate decision, the yen weakened further against the dollar, reaching a new low this century. The dollar/yen stood at 156.20.

The American oil future was just half a percent higher this morning at $ 83.85 per barrel.

In addition to PCE core inflation, investors are also paying attention to US consumer confidence.

Company news

Based on the performance in the first quarter, Umicore reiterated the outlook for the whole of 2024. Umicore assumes that the adjusted EBITDA for the entire group in 2024 will be between 900 million and 950 million euros.

Cofinimmo started the year well and therefore decided to repeat the outlook for the whole of 2024.

Proximus maintained strong commercial momentum in the first quarter of 2024 and achieved an excellent EBITDA increase of 5 percent. The outlook for the full year 2024 was confirmed by Proximus on Friday. This means a return to EBITDA growth in the home markets and EBITDA for the entire group.

Bpost reached an agreement with the Flemish newspaper publishers on newspaper distribution after June 30, 2024.

Xior achieved 6.9 percent rental growth on a comparable basis last quarter, with an occupancy rate of 98 percent.

The intrinsic value per share of real estate company Qrf increased on a quarterly basis from 15.25 to 16.33 euros. The EPRA profit also rose from 15.09 to 16.10 euros per share.

Shurgard continues to expand in the Paris region, with the purchase of a storage facility in Sénart – Combs-la-Ville.

Wall Street closing positions

The S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent to 5,048.42 points on Thursday, the Dow Jones index lost 1.0 percent to 38,085.80 points and the Nasdaq closed 0.6 percent lower at 15,611.76 points.

Source: ABM Financial News

ABM Financial News is a supplier of stock market news, video and data, both for real-time trading platforms and dealing rooms and for online and offline media publications. The information in this article is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.