CAC40: heaviness prevails at the end of the session, WStreet stable

(CercleFinance.com) - The CAC40 was unable to maintain contact with the 7,500 mark, falling back into the 7,470/7,495 corridor at the end of the session, where it had been trapped between 9:35 and 15:35, against a backdrop of very low volumes (barely E4bn traded).


Investors are reluctant to lighten their positions on the eve of the European Central Bank's eagerly-awaited comments on its decision to reduce the cost of money (Germany's difficulties threaten growth throughout the eurozone), not forgetting the '3 Witches' on Friday, which will conclude a month of bullish October, as in the previous 2 months.

Wall Street stumbled a little on Tuesday following a -5% fall in the semiconductor sector (risk of embargo on premium chips to Asia announced by the Biden administration).... and the situation is stabilizing, with the Dow Jones at +0.4%, the S&P500 unchanged and the Nasdaq reducing its decline to less than 0.1%.

The Euro STOXX 50, which had tumbled by 1.8% on Tuesday in the wake of the warning issued by ASML (the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer), lost a further 0.7%.

It has to be said that the company's performance was frankly poor, with order intake only reaching 2.6 billion euros in the third quarter, i.e. half of what the consensus was expecting", commented a London-based trader.

The publication last night of the 3rd quarter results of French luxury giant LVMH (-3.7%) added to this gloomy climate, with sales coming in below market forecasts.

The good surprise of the day was the continued easing of rates in the EU and on US T-Bonds (-4Pts on average): in September, US import prices recorded their sharpest fall since December 2023, under pressure from oil and food prices, confirming the recent trend of slowing inflation.

Import prices fell by 0.4% last month, following a 0.2% drop in August, according to statistics published Wednesday by the Labor Department.

Over the 12 months to the end of September, they were down by 0.1%, following increases of 0.8% in August and 1.6% in July.

In September, imported oil prices dropped by 7.1%, while food prices fell by 1.5%.

Export prices fell by 0.7% last month, following a 0.9% drop in August.

In the UK, the consumer price index rose by 1.7% over the 12 months to September 2024, an annual rate 0.5 points down on the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics.

On the bond market, the yield on the ten-year German Bund eased by 4.7 basis points to 2.178% and that on French OATs by -5.2pts to 2.912%, while T-Bonds of the same maturity erased 4 basis points below 3.9950%, with the '2-year' coming in at 3.923% (-3.2pts).

On the oil market, Brent crude continued its slide, down 1% to $73.9 in London, due to the downward revision of OPEC demand forecasts and Israel's promise to strike only Iranian military positions.

Finally, the Euro lost a few fractions (-0.1%) against the Dollar, sinking below 1.0880... approaching the $1.0870 support level.

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