CAC40: US 'CPI' has no impact, but equities and interest rates are weighed down

(CercleFinance.com) - The CAC40 has literally been stuck at -0.
3% since the first minutes of trading this morning (around 7540 points, the day's pivot).
The Euro-Stoxx50 (also -0.3%) has been just as "stagnant" since the opening.
The CAC40 has been penalized by Edenred (-2.1%), Teleperformance (-2%) and Eurofins and Essilor (-1.7%).

Investors were expecting the situation to improve after 2.30 p.m. with the release of 'eagerly-awaited' US inflation figures (CPI), but their publication turned out to be a 'non-event'.

The US consumer price index, calculated by the Labor Department, rose by 2.4% in September 2024 compared with the same month in 2023.
Admittedly, this is the lowest rate since February 2021, but it exceeds Jefferies' estimate by 0.1% points, and it's no better in 'core' terms (excluding energy at -6.8% and food at +2.3%), since the annual inflation rate came out at 3.3% last month, a level also 0.1 points higher than Jefferies' forecast.

On a sequential basis, i.e. between August and September 2024, US consumer prices rose by a further 0.2% unadjusted, and by 0.3% excluding energy and food.
'The CPI calculation gives an exaggerated weighting to the price of housing services, including fictitious rents charged to landlords. Without this, inflation would already be below 2%", noted Oddo BHF at the start of the week.

In other news, the Labor Department announced that 258,000 new jobless claims had been registered in the USA for the week ending September 30: this figure, which was 33,000 higher than the previous week, came as a surprise.

The four-week moving average - more representative of the underlying trend - came out at 231,000, up by 6,750 from one week to the next.

Finally, the number of people receiving regular benefits rose by 42,000 to 1,861,000 in the week ending September 23, the most recent period available for this statistic,

Wednesday evening's release of the FED's "minutes" seemed to reassure Wall Street, with new all-time highs for the Dow Jones and S&P500.

The minutes emphasize that the decision to cut the cost of money by 50 basis points was taken to support economic growth and prevent a further deterioration in employment", explains Quasar Elizundia at Pepperstone.

With regard to inflation, the Federal Reserve said it was more confident of making progress towards its annual target of 2%, although it remains above the desired level", adds this research strategist.
The US bond market continues to deteriorate, with the 10-yr yield up 1.2pts to 4.0700%, the 2-yr yield down 4.5pts to 3.97%, and the 30-yr yield up 1.5pts to 4.352%.
In Europe, Bunds also added +1Pt to 2.265%, and our OATs +1.2Pts to 3.0400%.
Spanish 'Bonos', on the other hand, erased -1.2Pts to 3.002%, while Italian BTPs remained unchanged.

In London, a barrel of crude rose by 1.36% to $77.8, while the euro held steady against the greenback at around $1.0945/E.

In Paris, Airbus reported 50 deliveries to 29 customers in September, bringing the year-to-date total to 497, and 235 gross orders last month.

Scor announces that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with Huyghens de Participations, the holding company of the Albin Michel group, for the sale of its stake in Humensis, France's ninth-largest general and educational publishing group.

Getlink reports that its shuttle services carried 200,353 passenger vehicles and 96,570 trucks in September, down 5% and up 1% respectively year-on-year.

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