CAC401: weekly gain of 3.7%, DAX40, S&P and Dow Jones records set

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris Bourse continues its bullish rally with a +0.
6% gan to 7790 points, following the previous day's strong 2.3% advance.

The CAC index posts an exceptional weekly gain of 3.7%, turning it positive for both September (+2.8%) and the year as a whole (+3.1%).
The DAX40 (+1.2%) smashes its previous highs, at 19.475, the weekly gain exceeded +4%, for a total of +16.3% since January 1.
The Euro-Stoxx50, with +0.6% at 5,062, is less than 1% off its best close of 5,100 on May 15.

On Wall Street, the US equity markets continued to set new all-time highs, with the Dow Jones reaching a new zenith at 42,400 points, and the S&P 500 (+0.3%) set to record its 44th annual close (above 5,760 if we were to end there).
Investors welcomed the good results of the technology heavyweights, but above all the announcement of confirmed 3% growth for the US economy in the second quarter, a sign of the resilience of activity on the other side of the Atlantic.

"It seems that all good news is really good news for the markets at the moment", commented a London-based trader this morning.

On the stats front, the most eagerly-awaited figure of the week came from the US: the PCE price index for August showed annual inflation down 0.3 points (as expected) on July, to 2.2% unadjusted, but up 0.1 points to 2.7% underlying (excluding energy and food).

The Commerce Department, which publishes these figures, also reports that US household spending rose by 0.2% in August compared with the previous month, while incomes rose at a similar rate.
Both figures are -0.1% below expectations.
The savings rate, as a percentage of personal disposable income, stood at 4.8% in August.

Inflation continues, but this time in Europe: this morning, investors took note of French consumer price figures. According to Insee's provisional end-of-month estimate, consumer prices in France rose by 1.2% year-on-year in September 2024, marking a clear slowdown after +1.8% the previous month.

These weaker-than-expected figures would reinforce the likelihood of a further rate cut by the ECB at its meeting scheduled for October 17.

US Treasury yields are finally easing a little this Friday (-3Pts to 3.765%, after briefly exceeding the 3.80% threshold yesterday for the first time since early September): a rotation movement has prompted investors to turn to riskier assets since the FED cut rates by -50Pts in mid-September.
The European bond market continues to improve: the German 10-yr bond clears -5pts to 2.126%, our OT bonds -5.8pts to 2.915%... and is thus back on a par with Spanish bonds (-4.5pts to 2.915%).

The dollar, which had reached annual lows against the euro at the start of the week, broke back below 1.1200/E this morning and is trading around 1.1180.

The oil market confirms its pullback after the short-lived rebound following the formalization of China's stimulus plan at the beginning of the week, as supply and demand fundamentals regain the upper hand.

Brent crude is down -0.2% to $71.30 a barrel, and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) is stagnating at $67.6, as Saudi Arabia has reportedly abandoned its objective of bringing prices back to the $100 a barrel zone.

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