Paris (AFP)

Equity markets rebounded Thursday after the ECB promised a 750 billion-euro emergency plan, as well as an announcement by Donald Trump regarding the use of antimalarial treatment against Covid-19.

This was enough to reassure Europe, with closings in positive territory in Paris (+ 2.68%), Frankfurt (+ 2.00%) and London (+ 1.40%).

The New York Stock Exchange also recovered after a roller coaster session and thanks in particular to the good shape of the values ​​of the technological and petroleum sectors: the Dow Jones took 0.95%, the Nasdaq gained 2.30% and the S&P 500 rose 0.47%.

The main Asian stock exchanges, for their part, ended for the most part in decline.

On Wall Street and in Europe, "the markets are going up because Donald Trump has announced that the United States has approved the use of chloroquine" to treat the coronavirus, Daniel Larrouturou, an analyst at Dôm Finance, told AFP.

"We will be able to make this medicine available almost immediately," said the US president, saying it could "be a game-changer" in the face of the pandemic, he said during a press conference.

Monetary and fiscal authorities are announcing very large-scale measures on the fly, but these are struggling to sustainably support the markets.

On Wednesday, the ECB pulled out the big guns with an "emergency" plan of 750 billion euros in public and private debt buyouts, in an attempt to contain the economic repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is in addition to a first envelope of 120 billion euros already released and the usual asset buyback program of 20 billion euros led by the institution since November.

"The measures will not only help avoid many short-term bankruptcies but they should also speed up the recovery when the economy comes out of containment, said Melman, chief investment officer of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management.

- Relaxation of rates -

For the rest, "the consequences of the injection of liquidity from the European Central Bank had a significant effect on sovereign rates and eased the market a little," added Mr. Larrouturou.

Italy's decline in 10-year rates was most pronounced (1.79% against 2.36% on Wednesday), while the German Bund reached -0.20%.

We "see a fairly marked tightening" in the spreads between Germany, whose yield is stabilizing, and the other euro-zone countries, in particular Italy, which saw its rate fall sharply on Thursday, and the France to a lesser extent, also underlines Julien Rolland, bond manager specialist in sovereign rates at Aviva Investors.

"It is the peripheral countries (the most fragile countries in the euro zone, editor's note) who will benefit the most from these ECB purchases in the coming weeks, which explains the reaction" on rates, estimates- he.

But "apart from Italian sovereign debt, where the ECB aspect has played a role, it is clear that we have European markets which simply reflect American concerns", in particular those around the private debt market, which is under tension in the United States, for his part reports to AFP Christopher Dembik, head of economic research at Saxo Bank.

While watching for the effectiveness of the measures taken, "the market will remain guided by the evolution of the virus, the number of cases and by any positive sign of a reversal in the curve of infections and deaths", underlines Antoine Lesné, responsible of SPDR research and strategy.

Oil side, the prices have compensated almost all their losses on Wednesday when they had had one of the worst days in their history.

WTI's barrel for April delivery finished at $ 25.22, up $ 4.85 from the previous day's close. A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery earned him $ 3.59 in London at $ 28.47.

The euro, however, continued to sink inexorably against the greenback, at 1.0695 dollars around 8:00 p.m. GMT, a level seen more since April 2017.

© 2020 AFP