CAC40: rebounds at the end of the session, helped by Renault

(CercleFinance.com) - After spending most of the day close to equilibrium, the Paris Bourse gained ground in the last half-hour of trading, finally claiming a 0.
78% gain to 7,235 points, helped by Renault (+2.2%) and STMicro (+2.1%) in particular.

This rebound enabled the Paris index to limit its weekly loss to some 0.3%.

Across the Atlantic, Wall Street's confidence remains unshaken by the success of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving: expectations of increased consumer spending are supporting the retail giants.

The Nasdaq is up +0.8%, ahead of the S&P500 (0.6%) and the Dow Jones (+0.5%).

The gloom in Europe remains, however, due to the political, economic and geopolitical uncertainties currently plaguing the Old Continent.

"The zone is clearly penalized by weak domestic demand, and the fear of new customs duties in the United States is undermining the confidence of business leaders, who still cannot count on the Chinese recovery", points out Thomas Giudici, manager at Salamandre (Auris Gestion).

The ECB therefore has no choice but to step up the pace of rate cuts, despite persistently strong wage growth", says the professional.

Investors were reassured somewhat at the end of the morning by the eurozone inflation figures, which came out in line with forecasts.
The 'gross' rate came out at 2.3% in November, compared with +2.00% in October, but the pleasant surprise came from the 'core' rate, which stabilized at 2.7%, compared with 2.8% anticipated.

The ECB's median inflation forecast for the next 12 months rose to 2.5%, compared with 2.4% previously, while the three-year forecast remained stable at 2.1%.

On the bond front, Bunds (2.10%) and OATs (2.91%) erased -3Pts.
The OAT/Bund spread has narrowed from 88 to 81Pts in 48 hours, showing a certain composure (no anticipated downgrades) ahead of Standard & Poors' verdict on our debt this evening.

In addition, preliminary figures published yesterday in Germany and Spain highlighted a re-acceleration in price dynamics, mainly in the services sector, but economists believe that these statistics are not such as to rule out the scenario of a possible 50 basis point rate cut by the ECB next month.

In France, according to Insee's provisional year-on-year estimate at the end of the month, consumer prices rose by 1.3% in November 2024, after +1.2% in October.

Finally, there's nothing to report on the FOREX, with Euro/$ parity frozen at 1.0550.

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