(CercleFinance.com) - Everything seemed to be moving in the right direction on Wednesday, but the situation eased again on Thursday, as US inflation figures (CPI) were deemed 'less bad than expected'.
This led to a fall in US Treasury yields on Wednesday, in anticipation of the increasing likelihood of monetary easing in the US in early September.

But the trend in Europe takes a sharp turn for the worse on Friday: not only have Wednesday's gains evaporated, but the week will end on a negative note in Europe.
Our OATs are +7.5pts at 3.012% (unchanged for the week), Bunds are no better off with +8pts at 2.5240 and Italian BTPs are also +7pts at 3.8180%.
The final eurozone inflation figures for April - unchanged at +2.4% - published at 11:00 a.m. were clearly disappointing (was there any hope of a symbolic dip towards 2.3%?).
The day was even worse in the UK, with Gilts down +8pts at 4.172%... but easing overall by -3pts over the week.

Across the Atlantic, the 10-year yield climbed +4.Pts to 4.4200%, after falling yesterday to 4.32%, its lowest level for over a month. The weekly score is still a respectable -8 basis points since May 10.

As for US indicators, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators, expected to fall by 0.3% in April, fell more sharply than expected, by -0.6% to 101.8, according to the Conference Board, which sees this as a sign of a slowdown in the economy (the index had already fallen by 0.3% in March, and analysts were expecting a more limited decline of around 0.3%).

The ConfBoard explains the deterioration of the index by the worsening of consumer sentiment, the weakness of business orders and the fall in building permits, but also by the stock market correction in April.

One of Friday's highlights was silver's confirmed breakout above $29.3 (+3.5% to $30.70, a ten-year record) and gold's return above $2,400 (to $2,410), despite the deterioration in interest rates and the dollar's strengthening towards 1.0850/E.

Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.