Equity markets expected higher after reassuring information on Omicron. The Eurostoxx 50 at 4,217.06 points (+1.01%), the CAC 40 at 7,051.67 points (+1.24%), the DAX 40 at 15,593.47 points (+0.95%), the FTSE 100 at 7,341.66 points (+0.61%), the SMI at 12,713.90 points (+0.25%), the AEX at 782.08 points (+0.92%), the BEL 20 at 4,241.27 points (+0.37%), the IBEX 35 at 8,459.10 points (+0.85%), the DJIA at 35,753.89 points (+0.74%), the Nasdaq at 15,521.89 points (+1.18%), the S&P 500 at 4,696.56 points (+1.02%) and the Nikkei 225 at 28,798.37 points (+0.83%).

With regard to exchange rates, the variation compared to the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD at 1.1341 (+0.12%), EUR/JPY at 129.44 (+0 .15%) and USD/JPY at 114.16 (+0.03%).

The French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced on Wednesday that it had notified Airbus of a contract worth 10 billion euros for the supply of 169 helicopters to the French armed forces.

European equities are expected to open higher on Thursday, after gains on Wall Street, which benefited from encouraging news about the repercussions of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and robust economic indicators in the United States. At 7:20 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract gained 40.6 points, or 0.6%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 40 contract rose 81 points, or 0.5%, and the FTSE 100 contract rose 35.7 points, or 0.5%.

The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Wednesday, continuing its rebound from the day before after the publication of good economic indicators in the United States. Among the indicators of the day, growth in the United States was revised upwards to 2.3% in annualized terms in the third quarter, against a previous estimate of 2.1%. In Asia, equity markets are gaining ground. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index closed up 0.8%. The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange took 0.4% at the end of the session and the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.4%.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rate held steady Thursday during Asian trading, after posting its biggest drop in nearly a week on Wednesday, despite reports of improved U.S. consumer confidence. this month.

The euro appreciated Thursday morning against the dollar and the yen, while the greenback changed little against the Japanese currency. The yen weakens against most G10 currencies and Asian currencies, as diminishing concerns over Omicron support risk appetite.

Oil prices gained some ground Thursday morning, continuing to benefit from the announcement of a larger than expected decline in crude inventories in the United States. According to the report released Wednesday by the US Department of Energy, crude inventories fell last week by 4.7 million barrels, while analysts on average expected a decline of 3.9 million barrels. By 7:30 a.m., the February North Sea Brent contract was up 5 cents to $75.34 a barrel. The same-maturity contract on light sweet crude oil (WTI) listed on the Nymex rose 7 cents to 72.83 dollars a barrel.