The neutral opening Bel20 was made available in the run-up to Christmas Eve

(ABM FN) The opening of the Brussels Stock Exchange is expected to be somewhat neutral on Friday.

On Thursday, the Bel20 index rose 0.6 percent to 4,226.97 points.

Wall Street will be closed today in celebration of Christmas Eve, as will the stock markets in Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. The Belgium and London stock exchanges usually close early.

On Wall Street, the major indexes completed a nice three-day recovery Thursday evening with the all-time high of the index of the 500 largest US companies nearing, the S&P 500. In the preceding trading days, stock markets were under significant pressure due to fears of the spread of the Omicron variant virus.

However, US investors on Thursday benefited from positive macro data and encouraging news about the omikron variant of the coronavirus. The results of a new study suggest that people with the variant have a much lower risk of being hospitalized than those who have had previous variants of the virus.

“Investors are slowly coming back to the belief that the omikron variant, despite stricter measures and shutdowns, will not harm the economic recovery. There will at most be a delay in economic growth, but there will be no adjustment. This is also the scenario we are considering,” said Simon Wersma, Investment Manager at ING.

Concerns about rising inflation and its impact on economic growth will remain a risk factor for the new year.

On Thursday, it was announced that core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation, the Fed’s main inflation indicator, came in at 4.7 percent in November, down from 4.2 percent in October, and higher than the 4.5 percent that economists had expected.

Inflation will also remain a concern in early 2022, Spartan’s Peter Cardillo believes. “Inflation will decrease in the second quarter of 2022,” the market expert said. Cardillo also expects the Fed to continue its course as the US labor market continues to recover.

Reports that the pathological course of the omikron variant of the coronavirus may be milder than the previous variants were also received favorably by the oil markets. This reduces the chance of major countries returning to lockdown, which would be unfavorable to oil demand.

US oil futures rose more than 2% in New York Thursday night to $73.79 a barrel. In Asian trading this morning, futures contracts rose 1.4 percent.

Asian stocks have stayed close to home this morning, trading mostly in the green.

The macroeconomic calendar is empty today.

company news

Cofinimmo has purchased a new aftercare and rehabilitation clinic under construction in France. The investment value is approximately 17 million euros.

Barclays announced a larger 3.79 percent stake in Recticel, a transparency notice showed Thursday night.

Close positions on Wall Street

The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent Thursday, ending at an all-time high of 4,725.79 points. The Dow Jones index rose 0.6 percent at 35,950.56 points, and the Nasdaq index closed 0.9 percent at 15,653.37 points.

Pron: ABM Financial News

From Beursplein 5, Editors ABM Financial News Keep a close eye on developments on the stock exchanges, and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in particular. The information in this column is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.