The Paris Stock Exchange is expectant on Friday, against a backdrop of increasing tensions in the Middle East and a few hours before the American employment report for September.
Around 8:10 GMT, the CAC 40 gained 0.56%, or 42.26 points more, to 7,520.04 points. The day before it had lost 1.07% to 7,495.08 points.
At this stage of the session, the flagship French index still lost 3.51% over the week, marked by geopolitical tensions.
“Markets are focused on the Middle East, with investors weighing the likelihood of further escalation and how Israel might respond to last Tuesday’s Iranian missile launches,” according to Deutsche Bank analysts.
The military escalation between Israel on the one hand, Iran and Hezbollah on the other hand, raises fears that the situation in the Middle East could spiral out of control, a year after the attack carried out by Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, on Israeli soil, which triggered Israel’s attacks and the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
Oil prices took off by more than 5% on Thursday after Joe Biden’s remarks referring to ongoing “discussions” on possible Israeli strikes against Iranian oil infrastructure, after the missile attack launched Tuesday by Iran against Israeli territory.
In addition to geopolitical issues, “all eyes are fixed on the publication of American employment”, notes John Plassard, investment specialist for Mirabeau.
This highly anticipated United States government report on job creation in September in the country, private and public sectors combined, must be unveiled at 12:30 GMT.
Investors have been scrutinizing data on the state of the labor market in the United States for several weeks to assess the extent of the current slowdown in growth in the world’s largest economy.
These indicators are decisive for assessing the pace and extent of future rate cuts that the American Federal Reserve (Fed) must carry out in the coming months in order to stimulate activity.
The day before, the activity indicator in the American services sector in September (ISM), which came out higher than expected by analyst consensus, has already “made the markets doubt the speed at which the Fed will lower its rates”, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank.
An economy that slows less than expected reduces the need for rate cuts, which displeases markets.
Totalenergies benefits from the rise in oil prices
The French oil and gas giant rose 1.24% to 62.29 euros around 8:00 GMT, benefiting from the recent rise in oil prices.
Successful takeover bid for Française des Jeux
The French gambling specialist La Française des Jeux (+2.21% to 35.20 euros around 8:00 GMT) announced Thursday evening the success of its takeover bid (OPA) for the Swedish operator Kindred, owner of the Unibet site, which should allow it to become a “European champion of games of money and chance”. “At the end of the offer period ending on October 2”, 90.66% of Kindred’s capital was contributed to the offer, indicates a press release from the FDJ, which completes the largest operation in its history, for a “total amount of nearly 2.5 billion euros”.
Euronext CAC40
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