(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris stock market gained almost 0.9%, around 7325 points, after the publication of rather encouraging inflation figures on both sides of the Atlantic.
Thus, the annual inflation rate in the euro zone is estimated at 6.9% in March 2023, thus marking a significant slowdown compared to the annual rate of 8.5% observed in February, according to a flash estimate published by Eurostat.
Nevertheless, ‘this fall is entirely due to a fall in energy inflation’, points out Capital Economics, specifying that the underlying inflation rate (excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) has on the contrary reached a new record of 5.7%, after 5.6% in February.
Also pointing to a tight eurozone labor market, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 6.6% in February, the London office expects the ECB to ‘continue to raise interest rates, bringing its deposit rate at a high of 4%.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the monthly statistics for US household income and expenditure showed this morning an unexpected decline in the so-called ‘core PCE’ deflator, the inflation indicator most watched by the Fed.
On an annual basis, this index rose by 4.6% in February, a level lower than that of January (+4.7%) and analysts’ expectations (+4.7%).
This rather reassuring figure – likely to allay the remaining concerns linked to the rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve – did not, however, cause pre-opening futures to jump.
“More fundamentally, the markets now care more about the evolution of financial and credit conditions rather than inflation,” summarizes Christophe Boucher, chief investment officer of ABN Amro Investment Solutions.
Thus, investors realize that lingering uncertainties about the economy will make the path to the upside more bumpy than they had been accustomed to since the start of the year.
This morning, investors have already been able to take note of several statistics concerning France. Thus, according to the provisional estimate made at the end of the month by INSEE, consumer prices in France should increase by 5.6% over one year in March 2023, thus marking a marked slowdown after +6.3% in the month previous.
In addition, in February 2023, French household consumption expenditure on goods fell over one month by 0.8% in volume, after an increase of 1.7% in January, according to data adjusted for seasonal variations and working days. from INSEE.
Finally, still in February 2023, production prices in French industry fell back over one month (-0.7% after +1.3%), in particular those of products intended for the French market (-0.9% ).
Over one year, they decelerated but continued to rise sharply, to +13% after +14.5%.
In the news of French companies, Viel & Cie publishes for 2022 a net income group share (RNPG) up 44.3% to 73.6 million euros and an improved operating margin of 1.3 points at 9.9% for a turnover up by 15.7% to 989.6 million (+10.1% at constant exchange rates).
ArcelorMittal announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement with four Japanese banks for a $5 billion line of financing for its joint venture with Nippon Steel in India.
Casino announced on Friday the success of its takeover offer launched last week on a bond issue from its subsidiary Quatrim, which was to mature in January 2024.
Finally, the European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture, Extime Media, by Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and JCDecaux.
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