CAC40: closes in the red, in the wake of Wall Street

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris stock market continued to fall, shedding 0.
58% at the close, to 7,269 points, weighed down by Publicis (-5.4%), Capgemini (-4.3%) and STMicro (-3.9%).
Over the past week, the CAC40 has shed almost 1% on a weekly basis.

Across the Atlantic, the '3 Witches' session turned stormy, with -0.8% on the Dow, -1.1% on the S&P and -1.8% on the Nasdaq (weighed down by Applied Materials (-8.5%), Illumina (-7.2%) and Nvidia (-2.5%)).

Wall Street was not helped by the latest US industrial production figures, which showed a sequential decline of 0.5% in September (revised from an initial estimate of -0.3%).

The Fed, which publishes these figures, explains that the strike at 'a major civil aircraft manufacturer' (i.e. Boeing) reduced industrial production by around 0.2% in October, and that the effects of two hurricanes also subtracted around 0.1%.

Without this, production would have remained unchanged, and Jerome Powell is rather optimistic (from Dallas yesterday), believing that the US economic dynamic is more than satisfactory, as it is superior to that of the main competitor zones.

Not a word about the Federal debt, which has just passed the $36,000 billion mark at the end of the night.

Still according to the Federal Reserve, the capacity utilization rate in US industry deteriorated by 0.3 points to 77.1% in October, a level 2.6 points below its long-term average (1972-2023).

Excessively good consumer figures could dampen enthusiasm for US equities, lest they prompt the Federal Reserve to put the brakes on its rate cuts: Jerome Powell said yesterday 'there is no urgency to cut rates further').

This reinforces speculation about a possible 'status quo' between now and the meeting at the end of January and Donald Trump's inauguration.

The message was received 5/5 by the bond markets, with the US '10-yr' yield jumping +6pts to 4.482% (4.51% high), the '30-yr' +4pts to 4.6234% and the '2-yr' +4pts to 4.334% (4.38% high).

Traders were nonetheless reassured this morning by the latest Chinese indicators, which reflect the economy's relative dynamism.

Beijing announced that retail sales of consumer goods rose by 4.8% year-on-year last month, compared with 3.2% in September, driven by purchases of household appliances, furniture and automobiles, and against the backdrop of the economic stimulus program.

Another important indicator was the 5.3% rise in industrial production in China last month, according to official data published on Friday.

In addition, economic activity in New York State rose sharply in November, according to companies participating in the Empire State Manufacturing Survey.

The main index of general business conditions jumped 43pts to 31.2, its highest level in nearly three years.

Finally, still on the statistics front, consumer prices in France rose by 1.2% year-on-year in October 2024, a slight acceleration after +1.1% in September, according to Insee, which thus confirmed its provisional estimate for last month announced at the end of October.

On the European bond market, the week also ended badly, with Bunds gaining +2.5pts to 2.367%, OATs +1pt to 3.095%, and Spanish Bonos +1.2pt to 3.0640%.

Bond yields - completely ignored in favor of the Trump Trade - could become a determining factor in stock market trends over the coming weeks.

Volatility rises sharply on the 'three witches' day', marked by the expiry of numerous futures and options contracts: the VIX jumps +8% to 15.50... after resting in the 'zone of complacency' the previous day.

The dollar falls -0.1% to $1.055/E.

In French company news, TotalEnergies, alongside bp, Equinor and Shell, announces a joint investment of $500 million, intended to create a positive impact on access to energy for populations in key regions over the next few years.

For its part, Sanofi announces that the US FDA has agreed to review a new supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for its Dupixent (dupilumab) in the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria (UCS).

Air Liquide has indicated that it intends to invest 50 million euros in a new logistics chain for packaging and transporting hydrogen along the Seine.

Finally, Danone announced on Friday that it had raised the price of its takeover bid for American Lifeway Foods by 8%, despite the latter's refusal to accept the offer last week. The French group said it had sent Lifeway's board of directors a second letter informing them of its intention to raise the offer price from $25 to $27 per share.


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