The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP / ERIC PIERMONT)
The Paris Stock Exchange ended up 1.22% on Thursday, driven by the third rate cut by the European Central Bank since the start of the year and the prospect of future reductions in the months to come.
The flagship index of the French stock market, the CAC 40, rose 91.73 points to settle at 7,583.73 points. The day before, it had fallen by 0.40%.
“The session was very focused on the European Central Bank” (ECB), comments Benedicte Kukla, senior investment analyst at Indosuez Wealth Management.
“The market had in mind that the ECB was going to lower its rates, but not everyone imagined that Christine Lagarde”, the president of the European monetary institution, “was going to have a speech so favorable to a relaxation of monetary policy “, continued the analyst.
The ECB lowered its main key rate by 0.25 points on Thursday, bringing its rate on deposits, which is the benchmark, to 3.25%.
Growth prospects are “on a downward trend” in the euro zone, declared Christine Lagarde during a press conference.
“The drop in confidence could prevent consumption and investment from recovering as quickly as expected,” said Ms. Lagarde, adding that the economic situation could also suffer from “geopolitical risks”, such as the war in Ukraine and the Middle East. -East.
“Christine Lagarde is more guided by growth than by inflation today and the fact that the ECB takes this into account is a reassuring change of discourse, because that is what the euro zone needs,” explains Benedicte Kukla.
“The markets anticipate that rates will fall to 2% by mid-2025,” the analyst further detailed.
The French giant of electrical equipment and industrial automation, Schneider Electric, which announced the acquisition of Motivair Corporation, an American company specializing in liquid cooling, for an amount of 850 million dollars, gained 3.67% to 247.45 euros,
Despite results below market expectations, Pernod Ricard, whose turnover fell 8.5% in the first quarter of its staggered financial year, gained 1.82% to 125.75 euros, investors welcoming the fact that the company had “reiterated its forecasts for the whole year,” note analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
Euronext CAC40
