Euro and Pound Rally Second Week, Eurozone Wholesale Inflation Eases

Bridgette Randall
02 Dec, 2022
Frankfurt

European markets edged down in Friday's trading led by the oil and gas sector. 

Across the eurozone, benchmark indexes closed higher for the week and closed up for the seventh week in a row. 

Market sentiment was positive on the optimism that the Federal Reserve would moderate future rate hikes but Friday's jobs report kept investors on edge after stronger-than-expected job additions.  

 

Eurozone Wholesale Inflation Drops

The eurozone wholesale inflation dropped to 30.8% in October from 41..9% in September, Eurostat said Friday.

The annual wholesale price increase was fueled by a 65.8% jump in energy prices after soaring 108.0% in September. 

Producer prices, excluding food, rose 14.0% after rising 14.5% in September. 

Compared to September, producer prices fell 2.9% after energy prices declined 6.9%.

 

Bond Yields Ease; Euro, Pound Rally Second Week 

The yield on 10-year German Bunds edged down to 1.82%, French bonds eased to 2.3%, the UK Gilts to 3.14% and Italian bonds to 3.75%. 

The euro inched higher for the second week in a row and closed at $1.05 and the British Pound advanced to $1.228. 

The euro and the British pound closed at six-month highs. 

 

Natural Gas Extends Weekly Losses 

Brent crude oil declined 98 cents to $85.89 a barrel and Dutch TTF gas  fell 2.5% to 136.56 euros MWh. 

For the year so far, natural gas prices are still up 53% and Brent crude oil ahead by 23.6%. 

 

Markets Overview

The DAX index increased 0.3% to 14,529.39, the CAC-40 index fell 0.2% to 6,742.25 and the FTSE 100 index declined 2.26 points to 7,556.23. 

For the week, the DAX index increased 0.06%, the CAC-40 index increased 0.5% and the FTSE 100 index increased 0.9%. 

 

Europe Stock Movers 

Resource stocks in London and across the eurozone declined ahead of the OPEC meeting on December 4th in Vienna, Austria. 

BP Plc, TotalEnergies, Shell Plc, Equinor and Repsol SA dropped between 0.6% and 1.5%. 

Standard Chartered, HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Allianz, UBS and Unicredit dropped as much as 1.5% but managed to close higher after a recovery in the afternoon trading. 

Credit Suisse soared 9.5% to 2.95 Swiss francs.  

Wizz Air Holdings increased 0.03% to 2,300.79 pence after the deep discount carrier reported a 70% rise in passenger traffic from a year ago in November.