CAC40: limited movements, imminent announcement from Matignon

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris stock market is stable this morning at around 7,430 points, supported by the automotive sector with +1.
7% for Renault and +1.2% for Stellantis.

Yesterday, the ECB decided to lower its key rates for the fourth consecutive time this year. The institution's monetary policy statement and the press conference given by its President, Christine Lagarde, also reinforced expectations of further monetary easing in 2025.

While this prospect is generally favorable for equity markets, some observers were disappointed by the tone of the ECB's speech and its lack of willingness to further support growth with a much more accommodating monetary policy.

Ann-Katrin Petersen, strategist at the BlackRock Investment Institute, notes that the central bank did not really reserve a 'Christmas present' for the markets, ruling out the implementation of more substantial support measures.

However, despite encouraging signs of a recovery in private consumption, the eurozone is facing a number of obstacles to growth, ranging from rising US tariffs to growing geopolitical fragmentation and political uncertainty in several countries", explains the professional.

On the statistics front, investors took note of a number of data this morning.

Over a year, consumer prices in France rose by 1.3% in November 2024, a slight acceleration after +1.2% in October, according to Insee, which confirms its provisional estimate for last month.

In Germany, the trade surplus fell in October, according to official data published on Friday, confirming the current difficulties of Europe's leading economy.

The trade surplus came to 13.4 billion euros in seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures, after reaching 16.9 billion in September, announced Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office.

For year-on-year comparison, it had stood at 18.9 billion euros in October 2023.

Traders are obviously keeping a close eye on political developments in France, where a new prime minister is due to be officially appointed later this morning.

In other French company news, Smulders (a Belgian subsidiary of Eiffage Métal) has won the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract awarded by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, acting on behalf of RTE, for the jackets foundations of the two electrical substations of the future Centre Manche 1 and Centre Manche 2 offshore wind farms.

Teleperformance states that its Board of Directors has decided to cancel 864,458 treasury shares, representing 1.42% of the share capital, in accordance with the authorization given by the AGM of April 13, 2023.

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