THE TREND
(Boursier.com) — The CAC40 continues to rise slightly after a brisk start to the week yesterday (+1.95%), having taken it above 6,300 points. The index of the Paris Stock Exchange rose by 0.3% at the end of the morning around 6,350 points. This is for the moment its sixth session of consecutive increase.
The main economic meeting of the week, the consumer price figures (CPI) in the United States for the month of August will be known at the beginning of the afternoon. The consensus expects a slowdown in the rise to 8.1% over one year after an increase of 8.5% in July, but so-called core inflation, particularly monitored by the US Federal Reserve, is expected to increase. of 6.1% after a gain of 5.9% in July. A figure confirming a cut could revive hopes of an interest rate hike limited to 50 points at the Fed’s September 21 meeting, but at this stage it is a 75 basis point hike that will is anticipated by investors…
Natural gas prices fall for the third consecutive day as Brussels prepares to unveil its anti-crisis plan. In Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the benchmark natural gas market for Europe, one-month futures contracts (TTF) are trading around 183 euros per megawatt hour (-4%) against a peak of more than 340 euros in heart of the energy crisis. Prices fell 14% in the previous two sessions. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will present a slimmed-down version of her plan on Wednesday to cut energy consumption and provide liquidity to try to stave off a recession in the Old Continent. The EC is expected to propose to the bloc’s 27 member states to impose an “exceptional and temporary” contribution on companies in the oil, gas, coal and refining sectors based on their taxable profits made in the 2022 financial year, according to a draft settlement seen by ‘Bloomberg News’.
RISING VALUES
* Leading the CAC40, Engie (+2.8% to 13.25 euros) stands out despite this extreme volatility in gas prices.
* Euroapi gains 4% to 17.5 euros. Deutsche Bank has adjusted its target price upwards from 20 to 22 euros and remains on the ‘buy’ side.
* Line data (+4%) generated an operating profit of 14.7 ME over the first half of the year, down 4.4% compared to the 1st half of 2021. It takes into account an increase in depreciation and amortization related to capitalized R&D on new platforms (in particular Linedata AMP and Linedata EKIP). The financial result amounts to 1.8 ME against -0.9 ME for the previous financial year. Its improvement is explained in particular by foreign exchange gains but also by a lasting reduction in the cost of financial debt linked to the implementation in 2021 of a new syndicated bank loan offering better pricing conditions than the repaid bond debt. Net income came to 12.3 ME, up 12.4%, representing a net margin of 14.9% (+0.4 points over one year). The group speaks of results in line with its expectations.
* Liquid air (+0.4% to 126.7 euros) announced the sale of its Industrial Merchant activities in Saudi Arabia to Abdullah Hashim Industrial Gases & Equipment Co. Ltd., a joint venture of Air Products for its Industrial Merchant activity in Saudi Arabia. This transaction includes Air Liquide’s stake in Air Liquide Khafra Industrial Gases (ALKIG). This sale, which completes the sale announced in April of Air Liquide’s Industrial Merchant activities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to the Air Products group, is not significant for the entire scope of Air Liquide in the Africa Middle East and India. It illustrates the Group’s strategy of regularly reviewing its portfolio of activities to refocus on certain regions and activities with strong development potential.
FALLING VALUES
* Plastic Omnium (-2.3% to 17.8 euros) will develop and produce for Ford by the end of 2023, type IV high-pressure 700-bar hydrogen tanks to equip its zero-emission medium-size truck prototypes and thus generate data in real situations.
* Aperam, which remained in the green for five sessions, lost 2% to 27 euros at the end of the morning in Amsterdam. Oddo BHF downgraded the file to ‘neutral’ while reducing its target from 38 to 31 euros. The analyst explains that stainless steel producers have seen electricity prices soar this summer, a particularly penalizing situation because their production in Europe, carried out exclusively from electric arc furnaces, is dependent on this energy. The upstream scrap melting process is particularly energy-intensive.
* Orpea fails to rebound (-0.5% to 16.4 euros). Oddo BHF cut its target from 26.7 to 16 euros (‘neutral’).