Brussels is expected to continue its progress

(EBMFN) The Brussels Stock Exchange is expected to open higher on Thursday. Euro Stoxx 50 futures were in the green about an hour before the stock market bell.

The Bel20 index rose 1.5% on Wednesday to 4,029.25 points, after a positive reaction to the release of US inflation figures, among other things.

US Labor Department data showed that consumer prices rose in line with expectations at an annual rate of 3.4 percent in April, up from 3.5 percent in the previous month, while core annual inflation reached 3.6 percent, up from 0.8 percent a month ago.

US 10-year Treasury yields fell 9 basis points to 4.36 percent on Wednesday in response to the report, and this morning the 10-year Treasury yield was 4.32 percent.

The report should boost investor confidence “that we will get more than one Fed rate cut this year, which should also be positive for stocks,” according to eToro analyst Brett Kenwell.

However, people are cautious in the KBC trading room. “Inflation optimists may see some improvement in today’s report, but it is unlikely to immediately change the Fed’s wait-and-see stance,” we heard at Havenlan in Brussels.

But the flag fell on Wall Street on Wednesday evening, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of the 500 largest American companies closed above 5,300 points for the first time in its history after gains of 1.2 percent.

“The market sees inflation dynamics as looking favourable,” said analyst Yong-Yu Ma of BMO Wealth Management. “Combining that with a strong earnings season, with generally improving earnings and a positive outlook, Wall Street simply wanted to interpret the report positively.”

According to the analyst, this is the hallmark of a “bull market.”

Asian stock markets also rose this morning following the positive reception to the inflation report on Wall Street. Sydney and Hong Kong stocks rose by about one and a half percent this morning, while Tokyo stocks rose by one percent.

Tech giant Tencent, of which Amsterdam-listed Prosus is a major shareholder, gained more than four percent in Hong Kong after publishing figures for the past quarter. Turnover and profits were higher than analysts’ previous expectations. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange was closed on Wednesday due to a holiday.

In Japan, the economy appears to have contracted by 0.5 percent in the past quarter, while it was expected to contract by 0.4 percent on a quarterly basis.

Oil prices rose more than half a percent this morning, reaching $79.07 a barrel, after already rising by 0.8 percent on Wednesday evening in New York.

Today, investors are interested in, among other things, the release of weekly support orders in the US, US industrial production and the Philadelphia Fed index. At the corporate level, interest is focused on Walmart and Applied Materials, among others.

Company news

KBC recorded a net profit of €506 million in the first quarter of 2024. Earnings per share were €1.18. The average analyst consensus estimated net profit at €444 million, nearly half the figure of €882 million the previous year. KBC declared an extraordinary interim dividend of €0.70 per share on Thursday.

Syensqo sales rose 3.0 percent quarter-over-quarter to 1.6 billion last quarter. Underlying EBITDA rose 23.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to €363 million, which is in line with the company’s own expectations for an increase of around 20 percent. Syensqo maintained its 2024 outlook on Thursday.

Real estate funds Vastned Retail and Vastned Belgium will merge. The combined company will continue under the Vastned name. Both parties expect to create more value by joining forces.

Care Property reported EPRA-adjusted earnings of €9.9 million, or €0.27 per share, last quarter. This was €8.4 million, or €0.23 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Wall Street closing positions

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.2 percent to 5,308.15 points on Wednesday, the Dow Jones index rose 0.9 percent to 39,908.00 points and the Nasdaq index closed up 1.4 percent to 16,742.39 points.

Source: ABM Financial News

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