European markets are expected to hesitate after the introduction of new anti-Covid measures in the UK. The Eurostoxx 50 at 4,233.09 points (-1.01%), the CAC 40 at 7,014.57 points (-0.72%), the DAX 40 at 15,687.09 points (-0.80%), the FTSE 100 at 7,337.05 points (-0.04%), the SMI at 12,597.43 points (+0.67%), the AEX at 797.72 points (-1.00%), the BEL 20 at 4,186.86 points (-0.96%), the IBEX 35 at 8,478.40 points (-0.95%), the DJIA at 35,754.75 points (+0.10%), the Nasdaq at 15,786.99 points (+0.64%), the S&P 500 at 4,701.21 points (+0.31%) and the Nikkei 225 at 28,725.47 points (-0.47%).

On the exchange rate side, the variation from the close in New York indicates a generally bearish trend. EUR/USD opens at 1.1333 (-0.10%), EUR/JPY at 128.81 (-0.13%), USD/JPY at 113.67 (-0, 03%).

Investors will follow the quarterly revision of the Paris indices on Thursday. The decisions of the Index Scientific Committee will be announced after the close of trading. At 7:35 am, the futures contract on the CAC 40 gained 11 points, or 0.15%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 40 contract gained 19 points, or 0.1%, and the FTSE 100 contract gained 7 points, or 0.1%.

In Asia, the main stock market indices are moving in scattered order on Thursday, after the announcement of a slight slowdown in producer price inflation in China. The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.1% at the end of the session and the Hang Seng, the flagship index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, gained 0.9%. In contrast, the Nikkei index ended down 0.5% in Tokyo. In the United States, Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, lining up a third consecutive session of growth. The Dow Jones index (DJIA) gained 0.1% to 35,754.75 points. The broader S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to 4,701.1 points to approach the record set on November 18. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6% to 15,786 points.

Yields on long-term US Treasury bonds continued to rise on Thursday morning, in response to announcements from Pfizer and BioNTech regarding the Omicron variant. Moreover, the return on the two-year bond, closely linked to the short-term evolution of the policy of the Federal Reserve (Fed), is stable.

The euro retreated Thursday morning against the dollar, as investors waited for new economic indicators allowing them to assess the strength of the American economy before the meeting of the monetary policy committee of the Federal Reserve next week. At 7:35 a.m., the single currency yielded 0.1% to 1.1335 dollars.

Oil prices rose on Thursday morning, supported by reports confirming that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 may not affect the global economy as much as initially anticipated. At 7:25 a.m., the February North Sea Brent contract was up 51 cents, at $76.33 a barrel. The January contract on Nymex-listed light sweet crude (WTI) was up 57 cents to $72.93 a barrel.