Session again erratic on the Paris Stock Exchange, which gained up to 0.70% before yielding 0.87% at the end of the morning and continuing to bend in the wake of Wall Street. Moscow has cast a chill by dampening hopes of progress in negotiations with Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, a Kremlin spokesman said reports of major progress in the talks are wrong. Negotiations continue nevertheless, adds the agency. These uncertainties come on top of fears over the outlook for the global economy linked to the conflict following the expected rate hikes announced by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
Around 4 p.m., the Bedroom 40 lost 0.43% to 6,560.41 points in a business volume of 2.25 billion euros. In New York, the Dow Jones yields 0.19% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.51% after two sessions of increase in a row.
The good American statistics of the day are relegated to the background, even if the activity index of the Philadelphia Fed reached 27.4 points in March, a level not seen since 1968, while the employment component reached a record. The market takes note that the US Federal Reserve has announced the first interest rate hike since 2018 and that six more are expected to follow this year, one at each FOMC meeting, to contain inflationary pressures that are expected to be fueled by the war in Ukraine. The Bank of England followed suit with the third consecutive increase in its repo rate to 0.75% (+25 basis points). Regarding the ECB, Klaas Knot, Governor of the Bank of the Netherlands, did not rule out the possibility of two rate hikes this year if inflation turns out to be even stronger than expected. Investors revised their expectations for rates in the euro zone upwards. The ECB nevertheless has “ additional margins between the end of asset purchases scheduled for this summer and the first increase in its interest rates for more than ten years, said Christine Lagarde this morning.
Renault relapses, more rumors about Atos
Biggest drop within Cac 40, Renault fell 7.2% following a degradation of Exane BNP Paribas, which went from “outperformance” to “neutral” on the diamond mark. The broker is cautious on manufacturers and equipment suppliers exposed to Europe. Stellantis yields for its part 3.8%. New car registrations also fell by 5.4% in February in the European Union.
Exposed like Renault to Russia, Alstom (-3.1%) and Societe Generale (-2.2%) are also down.
TotalEnergies gained 0.7%, boosted by the rebound of more than 8.5% in Brent prices, thus allowing the Cac 40 to limit its losses.
At the top of the index, Thales rebounded by 1.6%, revived by the deflation of expectations of progress between Moscow and kyiv.
Atos advance of 3.8%. Airbus took an interest in the cybersecurity arm of the business digital transformation group without making a bid, according to BFM Business. Atos reiterated that this business is not for sale.