(BFM Bourse) – The Paris Stock Exchange erases part of its progress from the day before, weighed down by Totalenergies, one of the highest weightings in the index. The CAC 40 fell by 0.36% to 7,611.26 points on Wednesday evening.
From one day to the next, the appearance of a session can radically change. After carrying the Parisian market on Tuesday, Totalenergies is undermining investor morale this Wednesday. The CAC 40 gave up part of its advance gained the day before, to lose 0.36% to 7,611.26 points.
The fall in the shares of the French oil group (-3.2%) came to thwart the desires of the Parisian market. It certainly published a record profit of nearly 20 billion euros for 2023, but the group benefited from a favorable basis of comparison since the 2022 financial year had been weighed down by heavy exceptional charges of nearly 15 billion of dollars linked to Russia. Ultimately, its fourth quarter results were slightly below expectations, while its announcements on shareholder distribution (dividends, share buybacks) turned out to be just in line. Enough to encourage profit-taking, while the stock had gained 1.8% the day before, in the wake of the excellent results of its British comparable BP.
Regional banks, the new scarecrow of Wall Street?
If the news in terms of economic indicators turns out to be quite calm this week, the difficulties of American regional banks have returned to haunt Wall Street for several sessions, via the New York Community Bank, which had bought Signature Bank during the previous episode of tensions last spring.
The establishment’s action collapsed by 22% on Tuesday evening and lost another 13% this Wednesday on Wall Street. Tuesday Moody’s lowered its rating to speculative category, judging that the group is facing Herculean challenges both financially and in terms of its governance. The bank is facing significant losses on its real estate loans, due to the decline in value of the properties against which these loans are backed.
Air France-KLM grounded by SocGen
As for French stocks excluding Totalenergies, the automobile sector outperforms the Parisian index. Renault gained 2.3% and Stellantis 1.1%. Both stocks benefit from a positive cross-reading of Ford’s good results, the American group having revealed accounts higher than expectations and counting on an American market that is at worst stable or at best slightly increasing in 2024, in terms of volumes. Its action rose 3.6% in trading on Wall Street.
Air France-KLM returned 3.8% penalized by a downgrade from Société Générale which lowered its advice to “hold” compared to “buy” previously.
Atos continues its decline and fell by 6.3% while the former IT flagship fights for its survival.
On other markets, the euro gained 0.1% against the dollar to 1.0766 dollars. Oil is rising a little. The April North Sea Brent contract advances 0.5% to $79 a barrel, while the March New York-listed WTI contract also gains 0.5% to $73.70 a barrel. .
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2024 BFM Bourse