(BFM Bourse) – The day after a decline of 0.81%, the flagship Parisian index failed to maintain the slight recovery posted in the afternoon on Thursday, falling 0.56% at the close .
Optimism is a rare commodity currently on the stock market as the bad news accumulates on the economic front. The term recession is back in the mouths of investors as statistics published here and there around the world illustrate a slowdown in economies. Last to date, economic activity in the euro zone, whose growth markedly stalled in June in the private sector, to register a lowest for more than a year. Inflation is further tarnishing activity in the zone, as in France, where growth in the private sector has fallen to a low since January.
Undecided, going from a loss of more than 1% at the start of the session to a gain of nearly 0.7% around 1:30 p.m., the Paris Stock Exchange ultimately did not retain any enthusiasm, ending at 5,883.33 points (- 0.56%) despite the support of luxury with 2.6% growth for LVMH and 2.1% for Hermès.
The heavy presence of inflation
There is nowhere where inflation does not make its heavy presence felt in the economic landscape. States, companies and consumers are all powerless in the face of galloping inflation. The battle against inflation initiated by the central bank of the United States risks causing a recession in the world’s largest economy, as Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, has half-acknowledged. The second part of the hearing of the head of the US Federal Reserve is scheduled for Thursday before the House of Representatives. The content of the speech will probably be modeled on that made during the great oral in front of the parliamentarians the day before.
In the face of inflation, every day seems to bring a new surprise from a central bank somewhere in the world. In this case it is the Bank of Norway which today accelerated the pace of its rate hikes to a surprise level of 0.5 percentage point to bring its key rate to 1.25%. And this tightening, the fourth since last September, will be followed by another key rate hike in August.
For their part, oil prices continued to fall on fears of recession as the White House considers measures to contain the rise in prices, such as the suspension of a federal tax on fuel. The barrel of Brent fell 0.92% to 107.65 dollars and the WTI 0.90% to 105.23 dollars Unsurprisingly, stocks affiliated with black gold remain poorly oriented like TechnipEnergies (-1 .9%) or Vallourec (-1.6%)
Atos – Thales merger in sight
Among the rare stars of the day, Valneva experienced a new rebound, accelerating by 19% on the announcement of the green light from the European Medicines Agency for its vaccine against Covid – without the biotech being yet assured of an order. from the European Commission sufficiently large to justify the launch of its industrial programme.
Atos rose 6.2% while the ministries of the Economy and the Armed Forces would be maneuvering to give every chance to a union with defense giant Thales, according to information from BFM Business.
Cybergun rose to a peak of nearly three months on the stock market, taking 6.7% while the Commercial Court of Saint-Etienne validated the backup plan of the gunsmith Verney-Carron presented by the group.
The euro fell 0.45% to 1.0520 dollars after the disappointing economic indicators published in the morning for the euro zone.
Guillaume Bayre – ©2022 BFM Bourse