FX.co ★ Key exchanges in Europe close the week in a confident positive

From the very morning on Friday, European stock indexes began trading with spectacular growth after a loud fall a day earlier.

At one point, the aggregate indicator of the leading companies in Europe, the STOXX Europe 600, increased by 1.09% to 429.03 points. By the way, since the beginning of this year, the index has already lost about 14%.

The securities of the Finnish energy concern Fortum Oyj (+10.1%) showed the highest results among the components of the STOXX Europe 600 on Friday.

At the same time, the leading outsiders were the shares of the Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB S.A. (-12%).

The British FTSE 100 indicator grew by 2.04%, the French CAC 40 gained 1.19%, the German DAX rose by 1.06%, and the Italian FTSE MIB and the Spanish IBEX 35 strengthened by 0.94% and 1.09%, respectively.

On Friday, the value of securities of the largest telecommunications company in Europe – Deutsche Telekom AG – increased by 0.7%. The main incentive for the rise in quotes was the financial statements of Deutsche Telekom AG published the day before: in the first quarter of the current financial year, the company's net profit more than quadrupled.

The capitalization of the British outsourcing company Sage Group PLC is strengthening by 2.6%. According to the results of the first half of fiscal year 2022, the company reduced its pre-tax profit due to additional investments to accelerate growth. In addition, according to the results of the reporting period, Sage Group's organic operating profit exceeded preliminary market forecasts.

The stock quotes of the Italian infrastructure company Atlantia SpA gained 0.4% of the value by the time of writing the material. In the first quarter of 2022, the company reported an increase in revenue and confirmed the forecast for the current year.

As for the key reasons for the loud fall in the European stock market the day before, the main downward factor for its indices was investors' lingering concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth, further decisive steps by the US Federal Reserve and permanently rising inflation in America.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank plans to act categorically to return the inflation rate to the two percent target. The Fed's decision, Powell said, will not be influenced even by the prospects of a decline in the country's economy in the short term.

Recall that following last week's meeting, the Fed raised the key rate by 50 basis points, now its range is 0.75–1% per annum. Earlier in March, the US central bank raised the rate by 25 basis points. The last time the central bank raised the rate following the results of two consecutive meetings was back in 2006. At the same time, there has not been an increase in the indicator by 50 basis points at the same time since 2000.

An additional factor of pressure on the European stock market on Thursday was also the internal statistics for the region. Thus, according to the report of the National Statistical Office Insee, last month consumer prices in France increased by 5.4% in annual terms, which was the high since the beginning of the calculation of this indicator.