CAC40: resists downturn in US indices, gold peaks at $3038

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris stock market is lazily gaining ground (+0.
4% to 8,110), as is the E-Stoxx50 (also +0.5% to 5,475), but our indices are showing undeniable resilience as Wall Street reopened sharply lower, with the Dow Jones at -0.8%, the S&P500 at -1.2% and the Nasdaq down -1.8%, below 17.500 (the Nasdaq-100 scored the same, at around 19,450).

T-Bonds did not fare badly, with the '10-yr' easing -1Pt to 4.296% and the '2-yr' -0.9Pt to 4.0440%.
Europe, on the other hand, is negative, with Bund yields up 1Pt (2.812%), OATs up 1.6Pt (3.493%) and BTPs up 1.3Pt (3.66%), but our stock markets are rising.

Michael Brown, strategist at Pepperstone, points out that 'geopolitical events' remain the focus of attention.
In his view, the positive start to the week (observed on Monday) could indeed be considered 'the calm before the storm', given the busy calendar for the days ahead.

This includes, of course, today's Trump-Putin call, five G10 central bank decisions, as well as results from Micron and FedEx, on top of a fairly busy data calendar", points out Michael Brown, who also points to uncertainty over US trade policy.

On the statistics front, US industrial production rose by a further 0.7% in February, according to the Fed, following a modest sequential gain of 0.3% in January (revised from an initial estimate of 0.5%),

. The Fed points out that manufacturing production itself rose by 0.9%, boosted by an 8.5% jump in the motor vehicles and parts index, without which it rose by just 0.4%.

The capacity utilization rate in US industry improved by 0.5 points to 78.2% in February, a level still 1.4 points below its long-term average (1972-2024).

US import prices rose by 0.4% in February compared with the previous month (+0.3% excluding fuel), i.e. +2% on an annualized basis, while export prices rose by 0.1% (gross data as well as excluding agricultural commodities), i.e. +2.1% on a 1-year basis.

The day's pleasant surprise, given the recent tension in long rates, was the 11.2% jump in US housing starts in February (1,501,000 units on an annualized basis).
The Commerce Department reports that US building permits - which are supposed to be a precursor of future housing starts - fell slightly, by 1.2% to 1,456,000 last month, while housing completions declined by 4% to 1,592,000.

In Europe, the eurozone's trade surplus fell slightly to 14 bnse in January from 14.2 bnse in December 2024, with imports (+2.3%) rising slightly more than exports (+2.1%), according to Eurostat's seasonally adjusted data.

Meanwhile, the ZEW index of economic sentiment for Germany once again showed a sharp rise in expectations in the March survey: at 51.6, it rose by 25.6 points, its biggest month-on-month increase since January 2023.
Germany's almost 'existential' shift to a debt-backed economy (like Japan and the USA, while France mainly refinances its deficits) is euphoric for the business community.

The more positive mood is probably due to positive signals concerning future German fiscal policy, such as the agreement on a multi-billion euro financial package for the federal budget", says Achim Wambach.

UK inflation figures, originally scheduled for today, have been postponed until next week.

The 'fact of the day' will probably remain the new all-time record for the ounce of gold set at midday today at $3,038/Oz (+15.5% since January 1, +41% since March 18, 2024), while the ounce of silver is close to $34.

The barrel of Brent crude oil is up +1% at $71.80, while the euro is stabilizing against the dollar at 1.0930 (+0.05%).
Clearly, it's not the decline in the '$-Index' (up a slight 0.1% at 103.45) that's driving gold's surge on Tuesday.

In other French company news, Bolloré reports net income (group share) of 1.82 billion euros for 2024, compared with 268 million euros the previous year, but EBITA of one million euros, compared with 61 million euros in 2023.

Interparfums announces the acquisition of all intellectual property rights relating to Maison Goutal -known for lines such as L'Eau d'Hadrien and Petite Chérie- held by Amorepacific Europe worldwide, a transaction whose financial terms are not specified.

Lastly, Vinci Energies reports this morning that it acquired Holtermann Regeltechnik on February 28, thereby expanding its portfolio in building automation.


Copyright (c) 2025 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.