(BFM Bourse) – The Paris Stock Exchange closed this Thursday session up slightly by 0.12% on the eve of a four-day blackout with Good Friday and Easter Monday. Over the week, the CAC 40 thus reaped a symbolic gain (+0.03%).
At the end of a series of two sessions in the red, the CAC 40 recorded a slight increase of 0.12% to 7,324.75 points. Thanks to its modest rebound on Thursday, the Paris market ended a shortened week with a mediocre but positive balance sheet (+0.03%). This weekly progression has the merit of helping the CAC 40 to align a third week in the green.
The long break ahead is hardly likely to encourage market operators to take risks. The session was therefore the last before a four-day break, with Good Friday being, for reasons that have become obscure, closed on the Stock Exchange, while Easter Monday is both an official holiday and a day when the markets are closed (except Wall Street which also closes on Friday but reopens on Monday).
Note all the same the publication of the latest US employment figures for the month of March like every first Friday. European markets will have to wait until Tuesday to react to the content of these figures. In the meantime, they dissected the latest registrations for unemployment benefits in the United States. They fell from 18,000 last week to 228,000 against 246,000 the previous week. That figure was heavily revised from the 198,000 announced last week, due to a change in the calculation methodology, the labor department said.
The economic context has clearly deteriorated, which has fueled market declines in recent sessions. The latest indicators have indeed shown a slowdown in the US economy, whether in terms of job openings or the ADP report on employment.
The S&P 500 ready to dive?
“In addition to the weaker manufacturing data released earlier this week, markets seem to want to believe that the economy is slowing, which it likely is, recent rate hikes are to blame, and the Fed [Réserve fédérale, NDLR] will soon have to backtrack on its interest rate policy. The last option is probably the most debatable,” said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.
In a note published on Thursday, the think tank Capital Economics estimates that the S&P 500 could fall sharply in the coming months. While the US index is trading at just under 4,100, company economist John Higgins expects a decline of up to 3,500 points in the third quarter before a rebound. This is because, according to him, analysts do not anticipate a recession in the United States, which he believes has become “even more likely” with the recent stock market turmoil.
Luxury in the hard
As for values, we find Accor, which closed up 5%, driven by an increase in its recommendation to buy Stifel.
On the other hand, the luxury groups pulled the Paris Stock Exchange down, L’Oréal lost 3.2%, Hermes 2%, Kering 1.7% and LVMH 1.8%. Publications in this sector for the first quarter will begin next week, with in particular the turnover of LVMH.
Excluding SBF 120, automotive supplier Akwel lost 4.9%, penalized by disappointing annual results.
On other markets, the euro recovered 0.2% to 1.0926 dollars. Oil contracts are moving up slightly, Brent North Sea for June delivery, up 0.1% to $85.08 a barrel while New York-listed WTI also climbs 0.1% to 80, $69 a barrel.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2023 BFM Bourse