The Paris Stock Exchange fell on Friday morning, showing caution ahead of the publication of the US employment report for August, which will give a clearer idea of the health of the world’s leading economy.
At 9:57 a.m. (07:57 GMT), the leading CAC 40 index lost 0.35% to 7,405.80 points, down 26.16 points.
On Thursday, it fell by 0.92% to 7,431.96 points.
The session is expected to be dominated by the highly anticipated publication at 12:30 GMT of the US employment report for August, which will give a clearer picture of the health of the world’s largest economy, after a week dominated by fears of recession, which caused sharp declines in stock indices.
“Investors are hoping that today’s jobs report will ease these concerns,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS Global Wealth Management.
Analysts quoted by financial data provider Factset expect the US unemployment rate to fall slightly to 4.2%, compared to 4.3% in July.
When the previous edition of the employment report, containing data for July, was published in early August, the markets panicked at the worse-than-expected figures and have since been monitoring any possible signs of a slowdown in American economic activity.
The employment statistics will above all give the markets an idea of the extent of the reduction in key rates that they should expect at the next meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) in mid-September.
French investors will learn at 9:00 GMT of the third estimate of the GDP for the second quarter of the euro zone.
The markets, however, have reacted little so far to the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister in France, 60 days after the second round of legislative elections which resulted in a National Assembly without a majority.
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The French ten-year interest rate was down slightly on Friday around 10:00 a.m., to 2.87%, compared to 2.91% on Thursday.
Luxury struggles to recover
After several days of decline, marked by concerns about their growth potential while consumption in China is still sluggish, luxury stocks are struggling to get back into the green.
Hermès lost 0.15% to 1,944.50 euros, after a fall of more than 6% the day before, while LVMH remained stable (+0.02% to 618.80 euros) and Kering fell by 1.02% to 242.45 euros.
Carmat is beating slowly
French biomedical specialist Carmat lost 3.33% to 2.32 euros, after revising downwards its annual turnover forecast.
Airbus aircraft inspection
The aircraft manufacturer Airbus lost 0.68% to 130.88 euros, after the European Union requested an emergency inspection of the Airbus A350-1000, the largest long-haul aircraft of the European aircraft manufacturer, following the fire of a Rolls-Royce engine on one of the aircraft of the Cathay Pacific company.
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