(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris Stock Exchange (+0.02% to 7,572) no longer seems able to achieve a new week of increase (the 6th in a row in the event of an increase of 0.35% at the close … but this now appears improbable as the Euro-Stoxx50 shifts into the red).
Mission accomplished on the other hand and with a good mention for Wall Street where the US indices will align – barring a late and unpredictable turnaround – their 8th consecutive week of increase.
The increase is indeed there on the eve of this long Christmas weekend (4 days in Paris and on the Euronext markets).
The S&P500 is getting closer to its records with +0.4% at 4,765 (i.e. +1.1% weekly and +3.4% in December), the Nasdaq-100 progresses by the same amount to 16,830 (+4.4% monthly) and could record a better historical close; the Dow Jones is content with +0.2% towards 37,500… but is only 0.1% away from a new absolute record, and there are 6 hours of trading remaining.
Any suspense over the continuation of the funicular rise has evaporated with the good ‘PCE’ inflation figures in the United States.
PCE inflation – the indicator on which the Federal Reserve relies to monitor the trajectory of prices – stood at 2.6% on an annual basis in November, down 0.3 points compared to that of October, and in core data (excluding food and energy products) it contracted from 3.4% to 3.2% from one month to the next, according to the Department of Commerce.
Published at the same time, household consumption expenditure increased by 0.2% last month compared to October in the United States, for incomes up 0.4% from one month to the next.
After a decline of 5.1% in October, orders for durable goods increased by 5.4% in the United States in November (+2.2% anticipated), according to statistics published this Friday by the Department of Commerce.
The increase is mainly driven by the transport sector (aeronautical orders).
Indeed, excluding the transport sector, the increase in new orders for durable goods would be limited to 0.5%.
And to finish in style on the eve of Christmas, American consumer confidence improved even more pronouncedly than expected in December, to 69.7 compared to 69.4 initially according to the final index from the University of Michigan published Friday.
Joanne Hsu, the author of the report, continues to attribute this improvement to the improvement in inflation expectations over a one-year horizon, now back at 3.1%, the lowest since March 2021, instead of by 4.5% last month.
The only downside of the day concerns sales of new individual homes which plunged 12.2% in November compared to the previous month, to stand at 590,000 units at an annualized rate, according to the Department of Commerce, after a fall of 4 % in October.
The median home price was $434,700 and the average price was $488,900.
The stock of new houses for sale is increasing and represents 451,000, a reserve of approximately 9.2 months at the current rate of sales.
The bond markets are marking time a little but no polarity reversal in sight: T-Bonds stand at 3.9050% (+1Pt), Bunds and OATs deteriorate by 1.5Pt to 1.9700 and 2.4770% respectively.
The euro is rising against the dollar (1.1014) to test new highs since the summer, with investors betting that the American Fed will get ahead of the ECB with its first rate cuts.
The Dollar Index (-0.15% to 101.70 after 101.45 at the day’s low) is for its part on the verge of validating the sinking of a major support: 101.90 (next objective, the level of ‘100’ then 94).
The oil market remains supported by geopolitical factors, in this case tensions in the Red Sea, which more than offset the prospect of a slowdown in global economic activity.
Thus, Brent appreciated by 1.2% to 80.3 dollars per barrel.
Note that gold, a safe haven par excellence, is also at its highest at $2,056 per ounce (+1%)… and the fall in the $ could send it beyond $2,100/Oz.
In French company news, Pernod Ricard announces that it has signed an agreement for the sale of the Becherovka brand and associated assets, including the Karlovy Vary production site, to the Maspex group. Subject to usual conditions precedent, it should be finalized by the end of June 2024.
Vinci indicates that it has won, via its local subsidiary Seymour Whyte, a contract worth more than 86 million euros for the modernization of the Cressbrook dam in Toowoomba, located near Brisbane in the state of Queensland in Australia.
Finally, Neoen announces that it has signed a turnkey EPC contract with a joint venture of Bouygues Construction Australia and Bouygues Energies & Services, thus officially launching the construction of the Culcairn solar power plant, in the Australian state of New South Wales. .
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