Brussels closes trading day in beauty
(ABM FN) The Brussels stock market grew strongly on Wednesday, tonight with all eyes focused on the further decision of the US Federal Reserve tonight.
The Bel20 index gained 1.3 percent at 4,080.15 points. Progress was also excellent.
Federal Reserve executives are meeting again today and tonight with an interest rate decision, followed by a review. A firm, with a final figure of no less than 7 percent for December, is encouraging policymakers to take a more aggressive stance.
“In March, men will probably start raising interest rates. One could already do that, but I consider that unlikely given the current volatility in the stock markets,” said chief economist Koen De Leus of BNP Paribas Fortis.
“We are curious about the speed of interest rate hikes. Do they do it during the interest rate meetings starting in March at every meeting, for example? The latter would be quite unexpected and hawkish, although it cannot be ruled out,” continued De Leus.
“We also need to look at what people are saying about quantitative tightening, phasing out reinvestments of maturing debt. From the first rate hike seems too early to me, at the end of the year is late again. One day they will systematically build up that process from roughly $20 billion a month to $100 billion a month,” the economist thinks. “To rely longer on the economy, for example, can focus more on unrolling the paper, resulting in the curve becoming steeper. The banks will continue to lend a little more.”
In addition to the US central bank, investors are also quite nervous about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, in which NATO is also closely involved. Russian troops are poised at the border to potentially invade Eastern European lands.
“I don’t think this will lead to an armed conflict. Neither party benefits from this. Russia has completed financial markets. Europe is very dependent on Russian gas and oil”, De Leus of BNP Paribas Fortis analyzed the tense situation.
On a macroeconomic level, things remained fairly calm on Wednesday.
Microsoft opened the books on Tuesday evening, the share went lower after market hours, but on Wednesday it is firmly in the green. The biggest winner of Wednesday is Tesla, also only after the closing of Wall Street tonight.
The euro/dollar traded at 1.1282 after hours, and oil prices rose. Crude oil inventories in the United States rose last week.
Risers and Fallers
Aperam takes the lead in the main index with a price gain of 4.1 percent. Colruyt was one of the few decliners and not included in the star index with a limited loss of 0.9 percent.
KBC Securities recommends Elia changes from Hold to Buy and the price target is EUR 103.00 to EUR 131.00. The stock added 4.0 percent.
Cofinimmo announced the sale of the Evergreen office in Brussels for approximately 23 million euros. The real estate investor will also have invested 11 million euros in the construction of a residential care center in Spain. The stock gained 0.2 percent.
In the BelMid, Econocom rose 6.8 percent, Ontex percent fell by 7.0 percent, above that a short position in the share was expanded.
On Wednesday IBA has a new compact cyclotron for hospitals, the Cyclone KEY. The stock rose a nice 4.6 percent.
Gambling company Golden Palace takes over Ubiway Retail, a do business of Bpost. The postal company did not mention how much is involved in this divestment. The Bpost share rose 2.2 percent.
Euronav expects to realize a capital gain of $18 million on the sale of assets with the redelivery of 4 VLCCs. The stock gained 2.7 percent.
In the BelSmall, Acacia Pharma won 7.8 percent and Hybrid Software was at the bottom with a loss of 2.1 percent.
Among the smaller stocks, Balta continues to be, gaining another 4.3 percent on Wednesday. According to ING, investors seem to be anticipating the new Balta that will arise with the sale of the rugs, residential PP and non-woven activities and the Balta brand to British Victoria.
The approval of Avantium’s construction for flagship plant also gave the stock an 8.5 percent increase in price. ING raised the price target for Avantium to 14.61 euros, with a pure buy recommendation. According to the bank, investors are too pessimistic about Avantium. KBC Securities repeated the Reduce advice for Avantium with a price target of EUR 3.00.
Wall Street
Wall Street is also significantly higher after the closing time of the European stock markets, pending the Fed’s interest rate decision. The broad S&P500 index gained 1.5 percent at 4,422.26 points. Especially a recovery in tech, reflected in a nice green Nasdaq, ensured the good weather.
Source: ABM Financial News
From Beursplein 5, the editors of Financial news from ABM 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.