European stock markets finished in the green on Friday but below their daily highs after Wall Street opened lower amid the prospect of seeing the Trump administration close one of the liquidity taps that have been open since the start of the health crisis to support the American economy on December 31.

In Paris, the CAC 40 closed with an increase of 0.39% (21.23 points) to 5,495.89 points after gaining up to 0.9%.

In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.2% and in Frankfurt, the Dax rose 0.39%. The EuroStoxx 50 index rose 0.45%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.45% and the

At the close in Europe, Wall Street was losing ground, with the Dow Jones losing 0.29% and the Standard & Poor's 500 0.12% even though the Nasdaq Composite picked up 0.14%.

American investors have not welcomed the announcement by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin of a request to end several of the loan programs for businesses and local authorities implemented since March, for a total of 455 billion dollars (384 billion euros) at the end of the year, believing that these funds would be better used to help small and medium-sized businesses.

Several Fed officials regretted this choice, stressing that these programs provided significant support to the economy.

On the markets, the news is all the more poorly received as the coronavirus epidemic in the United States, the cause of the economic crisis, continues to accelerate, which has led more than 20 states in the country to take curfew measures.

The situation is different in Europe, where the beginning of the slowdown of the second wave of the epidemic gives reason to hope that lockdown measures will soon be relaxed.

Over the entire week, the Stoxx 600 gained 1.15% and the CAC 40 2.15%, recording their third positive weekly performance in a row, which had not happened since the beginning of June.

VALUES

The best sectoral performances of the day in Europe were for the commodities and oil and gas sectors, of which the Stoxx indices both gained 1.54%. In Paris, Total gained 1.1%, Eramet

In the earnings news, German e-commerce specialist Zalando ended up with a gain of 1.09% after saying it expected its growth to accelerate next year.

Also noteworthy was the rise of the Italian banks BPER Banca (+4.10%) and Banco BPM (+3.72%) after statements by Unipol, BPER's largest shareholder, in favour of bringing the two groups together.

On the downside, the British software publisher Sage fell by 13.39% after reporting a drop in its annual operating profit.

TODAY'S INDICATORS

In Europe, retail sales in the United Kingdom recorded an unexpected increase of 1.2% in October.

CHANGES

Like the equity market, the currency market is torn between the hope of even a partial easing of lockdown in Europe and renewed concern about American fiscal policy.

The dollar rose again against a basket of reference currencies (+0.08%) after falling to its lowest level since November 9 at the start of the day.

The euro is trading at 1.1852 dollars after rising to 1.1890.

RATE

Benchmark bond yields are limiting their decline, a sign that concerns about Steven Mnuchin's unexpected initiative remain under control.

U.S. Treasury bond prices fell by just over one basis point to 0.8423% after returning to 0.818% at the start of the session, its lowest level since November 9.

Its German equivalent ended the session at -0.587% after returning to -0.588%, again an 11-day low.

PETROLEUM

The oil market remains in good shape and is expected to register its third consecutive week of growth, thanks to hopes for vaccines against COVID-19 and the postponement of production increases by OPEC and its allies.

Brent gained 0.32% at 44.34 dollars per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 0.22% at 41.65 dollars.

For the moment, the week ended with a rise of 3.7% for Brent and 3.8% for WTI.

TO FOLLOW ON MONDAY:

The first session of the week will be animated mainly by the publication of the “flash” PMI activity indices in Europe, which should make it possible to measure more precisely the impact of the relockdown on business activity.