After a session on Tuesday to wonder about the prospects for growth in the world economy, the Paris Stock Exchange found the way up, ending the day on Wednesday with a gain of 1.38%, to 6,624.91 points. The trading volume reached 4.05 billion euros. More than a technical rebound, the day’s progress is due to better-than-expected first-quarter sales figures in France and/or enabling management to confirm their course. Thus, the cosmetics giant L’Oréal (+0.77%) saw its organic growth accelerate in the first quarter, thanks in particular to the lifting of health restrictions in Europe and continued strong demand in China. Despite the geopolitical context and a very high basis for comparison, the Teleperformance business services group (+5.81%) continued to expand, with sales at March 31 showing organic growth of 36%. The objectives for 2022 are confirmed.
Danone and the Lactalis rumor
Danone has long pranced at the head of the Cac 40, before being overtaken by Teleperformance. The title of the agri-food group finally climbed 5.76%. Its revenues at the end of March stood at 6.24 million euros, up 10.2% in published data (+ 7.1% organically), against 6.1 billion expected by the consensus. The title has also, and above all, benefited from rumors of interest from Lactalis. According to La Lettre A, the dairy giant has been working for several months on a partial or total takeover of Danone. The latter was quick to reply that he had no plan to sell his three categories of assets, whether water, specialized nutrition or dairy and plant-based products.
Also circled are the bank compartment values (BNP Paribas, Agricultural credit and Societe Generale) gained between 2.95% and 3.28% while rates eased a little on French and American debt.
The beginning of the end for Netflix?
The yield of the French 10-year OAT eased to 1.3351%, while its equivalent in the United States fell to 2.8686% after hitting 2.94% the day before, unheard of since the end of 2018. BofA analysts say panic fear about inflation is overblown and inflation is expected to peak in the second quarter before easing towards the end of the year. The Beige Book of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), which will be published this evening at 8 p.m. (Paris time), will provide valuable qualitative elements for measuring the impact of inflationary pressures on American growth.
The enthusiasm for French values contrasts with the fall of netflix. The title of the streaming giant unscrews by 35% in New York, the day after the announcement of the loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter. This is a first since 2011 in the history of the group, which expects the bleeding to continue. It could review its model and launch a new, cheaper offer incorporating… advertising.
CP