Paris (awp/afp) – The Paris Stock Exchange ended in the red on Friday, losing 0.58%, cooled by the muscular tone recently adopted by the American central bank (Fed) on the subject of inflation in the United States.
The CAC 40 lost 42.17 points to 7,269.63 points. On Thursday, it finished up 1.32%, at 7,311.80 points, a gain of 94.97 points.
Over one week, the index fell by 0.94%.
“Now that the American election is behind us (…), the markets have taken a break and refocused on more pressing issues such as the problem of American inflation,” comments Florian Ielpo, head of macroeconomic research for Lombard Odier IM.
Investors are nervous after an intervention Thursday evening by Fed President Jerome Powell, who seemed to strengthen his speech in the face of the dynamic of rising prices in the United States.
“Inflation is getting much closer to our long-term objective of 2%, but it is not there yet. We are committed to finishing the job,” he assured, warning of “a sometimes bumpy trajectory ” to be expected, during a conference in Dallas (Texas).
The consumer price index actually accelerated in the United States in October, according to figures published this week, rising to a higher level than expected, at 2.4% over one year.
As for the economy, it “does not send signals that would push us to rush to lower rates,” added the central banker.
Retail sales, an indicator of household consumption released Friday, climbed 0.4% month-on-month in October, illustrating the strength of the economy and lessening the need for a rate cut.
After these comments, the markets anticipate that the central bank will lower its rates less than expected in the coming months, which weighs down stocks.
“The urgency for the Fed to reduce its rates has suddenly evaporated,” summarizes Ipek Ozkardeskaya, for Swissquote Bank.
In this context, the ten-year rate in France remained stable, at 3.08%, the same level as the day before.
Its German equivalent, a benchmark in Europe, reached 2.35%, against 2.33%, weighed down by the political disorder in Germany, after the explosion of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition.
Sanofi and Publicis rush
Like all shares of large pharmaceutical groups specializing in vaccines, the French group Sanofi fell on the stock market on Friday, falling 3.27% to 91.31 euros due to the probable appointment to the United States Department of Health of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., notoriously skeptical of vaccines.
Publicis, of which Sanofi is a major client, also plunged 5.42% to 97.98 euros.
Vallourec climbs
The French industrialist Vallourec (-6.36% to 16.23 euros), specialist in seamless steel tubes, announced on Friday a net profit down slightly to 73 million euros (-3.9%) in the third quarter, marked by the group’s first acquisition since 2016 and the end of its safeguard plan.
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