(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris Stock Exchange is experiencing a small episode of heaviness and yields -0.45%, around 7,535 points, while the market is literally deserted by investors with less than 650MnE exchanged after 8 hours of trading .
The CAC40 could just as easily have increased by 0.1 or 0.2%, like the US indices which collectively posted +0.15% to +0.25% growth and recorded a 14th session of increase out of 15 (and a 5th consecutive), with new absolute records recorded for the Dow Jones (37,742) and for the Nasdaq-100 (16,969Pts).
The lack of activity characteristic of this period of truce for confectioners does not call into question the quality of the 2023 stock market, since the CAC is moving towards an increase of around 17% this year (and +20% for the CAC40 ‘global return’ which matches the performance of its twin, the DAX (also +20%).
The Parisian market has been taking a break for several days, in skeletal volumes, after having set a series of records 15 days ago in the wake of the change in strategy initiated by the Fed.
Unlike in the United States, where the surge of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ – these stocks like Apple or Microsoft linked to AI – boosted the trend, the upward movement of 2023 benefited almost all European sectors.
With a gain of 30% this year, the European technology sector nevertheless remains the big winner for the 2023 financial year, ahead of industry (+29%) and the agri-food sector (+26%).
This optimism, however, has been tempered by concerns over the apparent slowdown in growth, which has led many analysts in recent weeks to adopt a more cautious approach for 2024.
In a context marked by the absence of a large part of investors, some figures published this afternoon in the US fail to liven up discussions: The Department of Labor announces 218,000 new registrations for unemployment benefits in the United States this week of December 18, a figure up by 12,000 compared to the revised figure of the previous week (206,000 against 205,000 initially announced).
The four-week moving average – more representative of the underlying trend – stood at 212,000 last week, almost stable (-250) compared to the revised average of the previous week.
Finally, the number of people regularly receiving compensation increased by 14,000 to 1,875,000 in the previous week, the most recent period available for this statistic.
The US goods trade deficit widened to -$90.3 billion last month, from $89.6 billion in October, as exports (-3.6%) fell more than imports (-2.1%) from one month to the next.
The Department of Commerce, which publishes these preliminary estimates, also indicates that inventories fell by 0.2% in wholesale trade and by 0.1% in retail trade.
Finally, sales promises for new homes were unchanged in November but recorded a decline of -5.2% over 12 months.
Despite the good shape of the stock markets, yields on government bonds remain on a downward trend, continuing their trend since the end of October, fueled by optimism about the evolution of monetary policies.
The yield of the German Bund and our OATs remains stable, that of T-Bonds deteriorates slightly by +3 points to 3.818%.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro remains stable against the dollar (at $1.110/E) and seems well on its way to testing its summer zenith of 1.1250 on July 14.
Note that gold – an inverse reflection of the greenback – increased by 0.2% to reach new historic highs, around $2,075 per ounce.
The barrel of WTI fell by -0.8% towards $73.25 after a fall of -2% the day before: that’s -3% for the whole week.
In the news of French companies, Safe indicates that its management initiated a complete audit of the group on December 18 aimed at preparing a draft recovery plan, with the assistance of the receiver, with a view to presenting it to the Pontoise Commercial Court.
Les Constructeurs du Bois announces the success of its capital increase with maintenance of the DPS, for an amount of one million euros, at a unit price of 3.50 euros and therefore resulting in the creation of 285,714 new shares.
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