CAC40: continues its solo slide, loses 9% in Q2.

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris stock market continues to slide on its own (while all European markets are up, 2 out of 3 indices are at their zenith on Wall Street, climbing into record territory):.

The CAC40 (-0.8%) sinks below 7500 points, penalized by the decline of L'Oréal (-3.8%), Publicis and Legrand (-1.8%), Carrefour (-1.7%), Airbus (-1.5%)... no sector is spared, not even the oil companies (Total-Energie at -0.1% when the barrel of oil rises back to $87 in London).
The CAC40 is down -2% for the week, -9% for the 2nd quarter and -1% since January 1st.
Conversely, the Nasdaq (+0.8%) has broken the 18,000 barrier, set a new all-time record at 18.015, gaining +1.5% over the week, +9.5% over the 2nd quarter and posting +19.5% since January 1st.
Record also broken for the S&P500 (+0.7%) at 5,524Pts, i.e. +1% over the week, +5% over the quarter and +15.6% since January 1st.

Wall Street benefits at the best time - the last session of the month and of the 1st half of the year - from a boost from 'macro' with a good 'PCE' index.
The annual inflation rate falls by -0.1% as expected to 2.6% in gross data and by 0.2 points to 2.6% in underlying data (excluding energy and food).
This compares with an anticipated decline of -0.1% in 'core' data.

The Commerce Department, which publishes these figures, also reports that US household spending rose by 0.2% in May compared with the previous month, while incomes rose by 0.5%.

A clear majority (58%) of market participants still expect the US central bank to lower its key rates at the end of its September meeting, but strong growth and persistent inflation have called into question the idea that the Fed could make several rate cuts this year.

US T-Bonds, which had fallen sharply since the start of the week, took advantage of the situation to ease by -1Pt to 4.278%... and here too, what a contraction with our OATs, which tightened by +3Pts to 3.303%, while Bunds shifted by +2Pts to 2.4700%: here's the OAT/Bund spread above 83Pts.
OAT holders are showing their nervousness ahead of the first round of French parliamentary elections on Sunday.

"If the latest polls are to be believed, the most likely scenario is that of a hung parliament with no dominant party", point out Danske Bank analysts.

"In such a context, the markets' worst fears surrounding vast increases in budget spending should ease, as the new government will inevitably have to accept compromises in order to pass its bills", stresses the Danish bank.


Investors took note of several statistics in Europe this morning: French consumer spending on goods rebounded in May by 1.5% in volume terms (after -0.9% in April, a figure revised down by 0.1 points on the initial estimate).

In addition, over one year, consumer prices in France are expected to rise by 2.1% in June 2024, down from 2.3% the previous month.

The same trend was observed in Spain, where inflation fell again in June, as announced by the National Statistics Institute (Ine) on Friday, mainly due to lower fuel prices.

But the political news in the United States also prompts caution, as Donald Trump seems to have been far more convincing than Joe Biden last night in the first debate between the two main presidential candidates.

According to a CNN poll conducted overnight, Donald Trump was the clear winner of this first televised duel in the run-up to November's election, with 67% of viewers giving him the victory against 33% for the outgoing president, who was judged to be tired and confused.

On the oil market, crude oil prices continue to rise, with a barrel of Brent rising by 0.7% towards $87.

The euro remains perfectly unchanged at $1.0700 on the eve of this crucial weekend.

In French company news, Lagardère announces that its Board of Directors has unanimously appointed Arnaud Lagardère as CEO, following the partial lifting of the management ban imposed on him on April 29.

Poujoulat has reported net income of 10 million euros for its 2023-24 financial year, compared with nearly 26.2 million for the previous year, and EBITDA down 38% to less than 31.1 million, on sales down 12.4% to nearly 352.3 million.

Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.