European equity markets are expected to remain under pressure at the opening this Friday, September 22, 2023. However, the Eurostoxx 50 opens at 4,212.59 points (-1.48%), the CAC 40 at 7,213.90 points (-1.59%), the DAX 40 at 15,571.86 points (-1.33%), the FTSE 100 at 7,678.62 points (-0.69%), the SMI at 11,084.74 points (-0.62%), the AEX at 731.72 points (-0.89%), the BEL 20 at 3,648.02 points (-1.70%), the IBEX 35 at 9,548.90 points (-1.00%), the DJIA at 34,070.42 points (-1.08%), the Nasdaq at 13,223.98 points (-1.82%), the S&P 500 at 4,330.00 points (-1.64%) and the Nikkei 225 at 32.438.14 points (-0.41%).

In terms of exchange rates, the change compared to the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD stood at 1.0656 (-0.07%), EUR/JPY at 157.71 (+0.23%), USD/JPY at 148.01 at (+0.29%).

The board of directors of TotalEnergies will propose to reappoint the current CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, at the head of the French oil giant, the group announced on Thursday evening. The Board of Directors considers “that it is highly desirable for Patrick Pouyanné” to continue deploying the strategy at the head of the company and has therefore “unanimously decided that [it] will be proposed to the May 2024 General Assembly to renew his mandate,” TotalEnergies said

The mining group Eramet announced on Thursday that it had sold its Norwegian subsidiary Eramet Titanium and Iron (ETI) to the British chemical group Ineos for 245 million dollars.

On the macroeconomic side, the provisional PMI indices for the month of August will appear at 9:15am.

European equity markets are expected to continue their pullback on Friday, still affected by concerns that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will keep interest rates high for an extended period of time to contain inflation. At 7:20am, the CAC 40 futures contract lost 14.1 points, or 0.2%, according to data from the broker IG. The DAX 40 contract gave up 48 points, or 0.3%, and the FTSE 100 contract lost 14.5 points, or

On Friday, market attention will be focused on the provisional PMI indices to be published in the eurozone as well as in the United States.

In Asia, the main markets show mixed performances. The Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 0.4% at the end of the session after the monetary policy decision of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). The Japanese central bank kept interest rates unchanged on Friday, despite inflation exceeding its target in

The BOJ decided to keep the 10-year government bond rate ceiling at 1%. It also kept its short-term interest rate at -0.1%. At the end of its meeting at the end of July, the BOJ raised the ceiling for the 10-year government bond rate from 0.5% to 1%

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 1.1%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6%. The New York Stock Exchange finished sharply lower on Thursday, for the second consecutive session, as investors are worried about the continued high interest rates in the United States

The three major American indexes had already closed lower on Wednesday after the decision of the Federal Reserve (Fed), which left its key rates unchanged but warned that it could keep them at a high level to ensure the return of inflation to its 2% per year target.

U.S. Treasury yields changed little on Friday, as investors continued to analyze the Fed's message, which forecasts high interest rates for longer. The chances of a new status quo on rates in November are estimated at 73.7%, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, compared to 68% the day before. And markets continue to expect rate cuts before mid-2024, which is contradictory to the Fed's own outlook. Around 7:30am, the 10-year US Treasury bond rate was stable at 4.496%. That of the 2-year stock fell 1 basis point, to 5.136%

The euro lost some ground against the dollar on Friday morning, but appreciated against the yen, like the greenback. The yen is being penalized by the BOJ's monetary policy decision, which left interest rates unchanged on Friday and reiterated its intention to be patient and continue its monetary easing policy. These announcements dampened hopes for an inflection towards a more restrictive monetary policy at a time when inflation in Japan is above the central bank's target

Oil prices rose on Friday, as global signals diverge. Black gold prices have been affected by the Fed's restrictive tone, which has fuelled fears of keeping rates high for longer. Rising interest rates can hamper economic growth and reduce oil demand. Oil operators are also concerned about the total and sudden ban on gasoline and diesel exports decided by Russia on Thursday, in the run-up to the high heating season

At 7:15 a.m., the November contract for North Sea Brent rose 52 cents, at $93.82, and the contract of the same maturity on light sweet crude (WTI) listed on Nymex took 64 cents, at 90.27 dollars per barrel.