(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris Stock Exchange reached 8,200 points in the last seconds of trading, finally ending the day with an increase of 0.65%, to 8,201 points, helped by TotalEnergies (+2.6%) and Airbus (+1.8%) in particular.
However, volumes remain limited with barely 2.8 billion euros exchanged since opening.
On the statistics front, the markets learned that housing starts and the allocation of building permits in the United States had started to rise again in February, according to statistics from the Department of Commerce.
Housing starts thus rebounded by 10.3% last month to stand at 1,521,000 at an annualized rate adjusted for seasonal variations, a much more marked recovery than expected.
The number of building permits issued in February increased by 1.9% to 1,518,000 at an annualized rate, a figure again higher than the expectations of the financial markets.
Economists expected a rebound in both statistics in February after the unfavorable weather in January which weighed heavily on the residential construction sector.
Investors are now hoping that the US Federal Reserve will adopt a reassuring tone at the end of its two-day meeting, which begins today.
Some observers, however, fear that the American central bank is preparing minds for only two rate cuts this year, whereas it previously expected three.
In view of the good health of the American economy, the monetary markets now only assess a easing of rates in June with a probability of 50.7%, according to the FedWatch barometer.
Ultimately, a first rate cut could only take place in the third quarter, far from the initial projections of investors who hoped at the start of the year for a reduction in interest rates from March.
‘And it is perhaps this situation which could push the equity markets to consolidate a little,’ warns Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis at IG France.
In Europe, the ZEW business climate index in Germany rose for the 8th month in a row: the indicator gained 11.8 points between February and March 2023 to settle at 31.7 points, i.e. its highest level in 12 months.
‘The economic situation in Germany is fragile, so it will be interesting to see if things have changed in March before the publication of the PMI indices scheduled for Thursday,’ explains Danske Bank.
On bonds, Bunds fell by 2.438%, our OATs lost -1.5 points to 2.8750%.
US T-Bonds eased by -3.2Pts to 4.308%, erasing the losses of the day before.
On FOREX, the Dollar is still gaining a few fractions (+0.2% against the Euro which is falling towards $1.0850).
Oil continues its rally and is now testing $87.8 in London (Brent) and $83 on the NYMEX (WTI).
In the news of French companies, ‘after having carefully studied all aspects of a possible acquisition of the BDS (Big Data and Security) branch of Atos, Airbus has decided to no longer continue discussions with Atos on this potential transaction ‘ indicates the group.
Atos announces that Eviden, its leading advanced computing business line, has signed a new contract with the Danish Center for AI Innovation, owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Export and Investment Fund.
Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide a global solution for the LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning Navigation and Timing) orbital demonstrator.
Finally, Airbus indicates that it has won a contract for the design and construction of the twin GRACE-C probe by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (Pasadena, California).
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