On Thursday, the yield on ten-year US Treasuries exceeded 1.6%. This is the maximum for more than a year. By the close of the market on February 25, the yield on the securities was 1.525%. On Friday, it dropped to 1.501%. Expectations of accelerated economic growth and inflation due to vaccination against COVID-19, prospects for new large-scale measures to support the US economy and deferred consumer demand contribute to the growth in the yield of US Treasury bonds, CNBC notes.
Meanwhile, France's GDP decline estimate for the fourth quarter of 2020 has been revised to 1.4% from 1.3%, final data from the national statistical institute Insee showed. Analysts, on average, did not expect the indicator to be revised.
Consumer spending in France in January 2021 fell by 4.6% compared to the previous month. At the same time, experts had expected a decrease in the indicator by 4%.
Growth in consumer prices in France in February amounted to 0.4% in annual terms, compared with 0.6% a month earlier.
Investors on Friday also evaluated the next portion of the financial statements of European companies.
The composite index of the largest enterprises in the region Stoxx Europe 600 decreased by 1.64% and amounted to 409.99 points.
The British FTSE 100 indicator dropped 2.53%, its daily fall was the highest since the end of October. The German DAX dropped 0.67%, the French CAC 40 fell 1.39%, and the Italian FTSE MIB dropped 0.93%. Spanish IBEX 35 lost 1.12%.
Franco-Swiss manufacturer of building materials LafargeHolcim Ltd. in the fourth quarter increased profit from operating activities before interest and taxes (EBIT) to 1.04 billion Swiss francs ($ 1.15 billion) from 1.02 billion francs a year earlier. However, analysts on average expected the indicator to rise to 1.5 billion francs. In 2021, LafargeHolcim expects an increase of at least 7%. The company's quarterly revenue fell to 5.99 billion from 6.52 billion francs. LafargeHolcim shares were down 2.5%.
French utility operator Suez SA posted a net loss of € 228 million in 2020, compared with a net profit of € 352 million a year earlier. The company's revenue fell to 17.21 billion euros from 18.02 billion euros. Suez expects to return to organic revenue growth this year, with the company forecast to exceed € 16 billion. The company expects EBIT to grow to 1.4-1.6 billion euros from 780 million euros received last year. Suez shares gained 0.5% on Friday.
International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (IAG) posted a net loss of € 6.92 billion in 2020, compared with a net profit of € 1.72 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected the company's net loss to be 6.47 billion euros. Revenue fell to 7.8 billion euros from 25.51 billion euros against the forecast of 8.08 billion euros. Despite this, the company's share price rose 3.1%.
Telecommunications Deutsche Telekom AG increased its fourth-quarter net income to 1.67 billion euros from 654 million in the same period in 2019. Revenue jumped to 27.62 billion euros from 21.36 billion euros. The market value of the company increased by 0.4%.
