Cac 40: The year was not easy for the CAC 40 which fell by 2.15% in 2024

(BFM Bourse) – The CAC 40 ends this last session of 2024 on a positive note. But for the whole year, the flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange lost 2.15%. As for its residents, certain groups like Accor, Schneider Electric or Safran did well, while STMicroelectronics, Kering or Stellantis had a difficult stock market year.

“It was the last session,” to quote the Eddy Mitchell song. With the difference that the singer was not referring to the Stock Market, but to the cinema which rocked his childhood. And for this exceptionally shortened session, the CAC 40 finally ended the year on a positive note by gaining 0.92% to 7,380.74 points.

This climb, however, took place on empty. As is very often the case during the last session of the year, the market had to face a certain calm in the absence of many operators during this holiday period. Remember that the Paris Stock Exchange will be closed on January 1 for the New Year, and will reopen its doors on Thursday, January 2 for the first session of 2025.

Business news was, unsurprisingly, very light on Tuesday. Icade increased by 3.4% after announcing the signing of a firm agreement to buy from Casino (+4.4%) a real estate portfolio of 11 sites for a total amount of 50 million euros.

Phaxiam gained 1.1% after jumping more than 10% in the first exchanges, in reaction to the announcement of encouraging clinical results for its study the PhagoDAIR I pilot study in patients with an infection on a hip or prosthesis. knee.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.05% this Tuesday afternoon to 1.0401 dollars. Oil is gaining ground. The March contract on North Sea Brent advanced 0.7% to $77.66 per barrel while the February contract on WTI listed in New York gained 0.6% to $72.19 per barrel. But over the whole of 2024, the two contracts ended in the red for the second consecutive year, penalized by fears about demand in the main consuming countries, China in the lead.

A year 2024 to forget

Over the whole of 2024, the results are also really not great for the CAC 40. The Parisian index thus lost 2.15%, penalized by political instability since the dissolution of the National Assembly , in June, and the poor performance of luxury stocks weighed down by China's economic slowdown. A completely opposite development from 2023, when it jumped 16.5%.

Above all, the Parisian market did much less well than its counterparts. The S&P 500 on Wall Street is currently posting gains of 24% over the whole of 2024, supported by its technology stocks, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt has gained nearly 19% despite a German economy in the tough one. . The German flagship index was able to count on its star stocks such as the industrial Siemens Energy which gained 320% over the whole of 2024, benefiting from the electrification of the economy, a megatrend. This is a nice stock market revenge for the German group whose shares had suffered in 2023, with a fall of more than 30%. The arms manufacturer Rheinmetall (+114%) and the professional software specialist SAP (+69%), – the largest capitalization on the German Stock Exchange – complete this brilliant podium.

Chinese stock markets took their revenge in 2024 after several years of declines. The CSI 300 index, which brings together the largest capitalizations of the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges, rose 14.7% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rebounded 17.7%, ending four years consecutive losses.

“It is likely that the underperformance of the CAC 40 will persist over the first months of 2025, as will a significant spread gap (the difference in the yield of the 10-year sovereign bond, Editor’s note) compared to Germany” , judged Christopher Dembik, investment advisor at Pictet AM.

Contrasted paths

Let us also highlight mixed business results. As an illustration, 21 companies showed a drop in their share price following their publication of their results for the first months of 2024.

A sign that the year 2024 has not been brilliant, only 17 of the 40 stocks in the flagship Parisian index are posting annual gains. At the top of the best performances in the CAC 40, we find the Accor hotel group (+35.95%), which exceeded expectations in the third quarter, a key period, as it takes place during the summer, and offered the luxury of meeting its objectives.

Safran (+33.01%) occupies second place on this podium even if the action came to a halt at the beginning of December following the communication of cautious medium-term objectives. Deutsche Bank, however, saw it as an entry point, purchasing the stock a few days later.

Schneider Electric (+32.52%), also had a good year after also raising its objectives for 2024 this summer, and posted strong growth (+6.8% on a comparable basis over nine months). A good run which did not suffer from the surprise change of general manager in November.

Conversely, the year 2024 is to be forgotten for Stellantis which shows one of the biggest declines in the CAC 40 (-40.20%). Best performance on the Parisian index in 2023, the car manufacturer's stock saw its stock market fortunes change from the spring of 2024, with a series of poor operational performances, until it issued a heavy warning on results at the end of September. A dark series which precipitated the departure of Carlos Tavares, his emblematic boss who had then been the architect of the recovery of a PSA which was struggling to recover from its difficulties of 2012, when the company burned for several hundred million euros cash per month.

Kering lost 40.29%, weighed down by degraded results due to a recovery which is slow to materialize at Gucci, the flagship brand of the luxury group, and a clear slowdown in demand in China.

Edenred (-41.49%) is also one of the big losers on the stock market in 2024. Investors were scalded by disappointing publications, notably that of the third quarter and the stock was penalized by regulatory risk in France (where a report from the Court of Auditors had highlighted the tax advantages on restaurant vouchers and gift vouchers) as well as in Italy.

But the biggest drop in 2024 goes to STMicroelectronics, with a drop of 46.35%. The Franco-Italian semiconductor specialist had to face weak momentum in its various segments, particularly in the automobile sector, and had to lower its annual targets on several occasions.

To end on a more festive note, we would like to take advantage of this last session to wish you, dear readers, a happy new year 2025 on behalf of all the BFM Bourse teams!

Here is the 2024 CAC 40 ranking in variation: