The aluminum group has suffered the inflation of the cost of energy

The Awakening was brutal. After evidence of astonishing resistance to numerous threats in recent weeks, the awards have folded. The Dow Jones gave 0.95 at the end. S & P 500 (-0,78) has inscritt its fourth meeting in a row red, of the never-seen since last fall. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 declined 1.7 - its strongest decline since a month. Sector minerals and metals has transferred 4, on a background of several raw materials decreased. The CAC 40 dropped 1.5, from below 4,000 points for the first time since the beginning of the month. At the same time the VIX-l' indicator of fear, measuring volatility-a jumped 11 at the meeting.

A rain of bad news hit the markets. The Japanese disaster, somewhat forgotten by the investor, is back on the front of the stage: the authorities of the country, which suffered new replicas, have placed the nuclear accident of the Fukushima plant at the same level of gravity as Chernobyl. The Nikkei lost 1.7 yesterday.

In the United States, the ball of the quarterly started poorly: Alcoa (-6, to the mi-séance) has disappointed on its sales. The aluminum group has suffered the inflation of the cost of energy. A topic of concern for this season, investors fear that the outbreak of the raw penalizes the margins of the companies.

Oil - although it was down yesterday grimpé-a of about 20 since the beginning of the year, raising doubts about growth, pointed the finger by the International Energy Agency. "If oil remains at high levels, investors fear that the force and the duration of the recovery could be revised downwards," said Thierry Le Clercq, managing shares in Allianz GI. "The market had demonstrated an exceptional held despite the rise of the black gold." "But I do not see how it can start from the front with the sword of Damocles that represents the energy", Pierre-Yves Gauthier, co-founder of AlphaValue is supporting. It should add to this black table of disappointing indicators, including the barometer of confidence ZEW in Germany, back in April, or even rising prices of products imported into the United States in March.

Correction of yesterday is a blow to stop a certain euphoria which prevailed in the markets. The major exchanges were able to erase the events of the Japan: a month after the earthquake, the ACC won 2 and the Dow more than 3. Indices evolved these days near their most annual high, through flows in stock funds, especially in developed markets. The Dow Jones had even entered earlier this month a peak since summer 2008.

And investors appeared to have an almost unshakeable faith in actions, found little expensive. Witness the BofA Merrill Lynch survey published yesterday: any early April interviewed managers had massively reduced their exposure to the cash, for the benefit of the actions. "There was yet of the warning signs of a correction, with very low volumes on shares in recent weeks, sign of a lack of conviction, adds Cyrille collar, Director of management actions of CPR AM, who sees this correction as a"breathing". The markets could remain hesitant some time: they now need good news to start rising.