Wall Street is expected to fall and European stock markets fall mid-session on Friday, with the evolution of the coronavirus epidemic, particularly in China, taking precedence over the presentation of an unsurprising economic recovery project in the United States, where results from several banks and a series of statistics are on the menu.

New York index futures signal a Wall Street opening down 0.4% for the S&P-500 and Dow Jones and 0.2% for the Nasdaq.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1.15% to 5,615.88 around 12:08 GMT. In Frankfurt, the DAX fell 0.96% and in London, the FTSE

The pan-European index FTSEurofirst 300 is down by 0.64%, the eurozone's EuroStoxx 50 by 0.86% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.8%.

On Friday, China recorded the highest number of daily cases of COVID-19 in more than 10 months as a result of an epidemic outbreak in the northeastern part of the country where more than 28 million people were placed in lockdown.

In France, a curfew from 18:00 will be extended to the entire country on Saturday for at least two weeks and in Germany, Angela Merkel would consider tightening restrictions to limit social interactions while the threshold of two million cases has been crossed in Europe's largest economy.

To offset the economic damage caused by the health crisis, Joe Biden unveiled a draft recovery plan of 1.9 trillion dollars (1.562 billion euros) on Thursday, including $1,400 in aid to Americans and the increase and extension of unemployment benefits.

“Most of the measures announced were fairly in line with expectations. There were few details about future long-term spending commitments for infrastructure and other types of investments, including education, energy, and green investments, but that should happen once Joe Biden sets foot under the Oval Office,” said Michael Hewson at CMC

The Wall Street session will also be animated by several American economic indicators, including retail sales and industrial production figures in December.

VALUES TO FOLLOW ON WALL STREET

J.P. Morgan, the first major American bank to report fourth-quarter results, reported an increase in quarterly earnings thanks to the strength of its trading activities and its investment banking division.

Citigroup and Wells Fargo will also be publishing before Wall Street opens.

VALUES IN EUROPE

All the major sectors on the European stock market are in the red, with the sharpest declines being for oil and gas (-0.88%) and that of raw materials (-0.98%).

In Paris, the largest drop in the CAC 40 was for Carrefour, which continued to fall and fell 4.74%, as the French government reiterated its opposition to a takeover of the group by a foreign player.

Bouygues fell by 2.61% after the presentation of the strategic plan for its telecommunications branch, which disappointed some investors.

In Frankfurt, Siemens Energy lost 5.88% after General Electric accused one of the subsidiaries of the German competitor of using stolen confidential information to win contracts.

On the upside, Valeo gained 0.56% after better than expected preliminary results for the second half of 2020.

DBV Technologies jumped 37.53% after the announcement of encouraging exchanges with the American Drug Agency in connection with its application for a license of biological products for its treatment of peanut allergy.

RATE

On the bond market, the ten-year Treasury yield fell nearly two basis points to 1.1039% after recovering four basis points on Thursday. In Europe, that of the Bund with the same maturity rose slightly to -0.54%

The ten-year BTP rate is falling again after rising more than five points the day before due to political uncertainties in Italy after the departure of ministers from Matteo Renzi's party from the ruling coalition.

The President of the Council, Giuseppe Conte, has no intention of resigning and will address Parliament on Monday, the Presidency of the Republic announced, and his statement will be followed by a vote of confidence.

CHANGES

The dollar is trying to continue its rebound against the other major currencies (+0.23%) but it had a hesitant start to the session after statements on Thursday by Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, which clearly suggested that the American central bank is very far from considering raising rates and reducing its bond purchases.

However, the greenback is benefiting from the rise in American bond yields recorded the day before. The euro thus returned to 1.2121 dollars, not far from the one-month low hit

The pound fell after the British gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated for November, contracting for the first time since April.

PETROLEUM

Oil prices are in the red as concerns about the lockdown of several Chinese cities have overtaken optimism fuelled by the record level of crude imports into China in 2020.

Brent lost 1.67% to $55.48 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) 1.4% below 53 dollars.