The Paris Bourse continued a second session of strong growth on Tuesday, breaking its records during the session and at the close while fears about disruptions linked to the Omicron variant continue to dissipate for investors.
The CAC 40 index gained 100.19 points (+ 1.39%) to close at 7,317.41 points, a record. During the session, it peaked at 7,332.21, its new high.
The day before, he had finished up 0.90%, already setting a new record.
Investors were reassured “by new statements from the World Health Organization on milder symptoms of the Omicron variant,” observed Harry Wolhandler, deputy managing director at Amilton AM.
“The markets anticipate a problem-free crisis management, as if the problem were solved. But the virus has shown that it can surprise us every day,” he adds.
Nearly 300,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in France over the past 24 hours, a record, Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced to the National Assembly on Tuesday.
As a result, investors have turned to stocks that have suffered the most from the economic consequences of health restrictions, and therefore have the most to gain from a smooth reopening. Banks, industrial companies and travel have thus posted clear gains.
Another factor that may have played a role in these first two thunderous sessions of 2022, “at the beginning of January is traditionally a period of subscriptions for institutional investors”, who inject the funds they have just collected into the market, pushing up the price of the shares. , explains Wolhandler.
The economic indicators have been correct in the eyes of investors. In the United States, growth in the manufacturing sector slowed in December as production continued to be constrained by supply difficulties and understaffing, despite signs of improvement on both fronts.
That of China is on the rise, according to an independent indicator.
The main meeting of the week remains the monthly employment report in the United States, released Friday by the Department of Labor.
Rates rise, causing bank stocks to rise.
After gaining 12 basis points (0.12 percentage point) on Monday, the benchmark ten-year US government bond rate recovered four points to 1.67%, approaching 2020 highs.
“It is even astonishing that the rates remained so low at the end of last year”, while the US Federal Reserve indicated that it intended to raise its key rates three times in 2022, explains Mr. Wolhandler.
Sensitive to these variations, banks were the most visible on the CAC 40 index: Societe Generale jumped 4.83% to 31.93 euros, BNP Paribas 3.35% to 63.25 euros and Crédit Agricole from 2.37% to 13.04 euros.
Conversely, technology stocks, which need low rates to support their high valuation and their long-term growth prospects, suffered: Teleperformance fell 0.66% to 393.40 euros and STMicroelectronics by 1.78 % to 43.22 euros. Ubisoft (video games) dropped 3.01% to 41.59 euros.
Health suffers, Valneva plummets
The prospects for exiting the Covid-19 crisis hurt companies whose activity depends on the fight against the epidemic: the analysis laboratory Eurofins Scientific fell 4.91% to 101.52 euros, Sanofi by 1, 41% to 88.07 euros, Sartorius Stedim from 7.86% to 441.90 euros and Valneva, which is developing a vaccine, from 23.70% to 17.64 euros.
Travel and industrial winners
Taking advantage of the prospect of reopening the economies, Air-France-KLM jumped 8.13% to 4.39 euros, the hotelier Accor 3.96% to 30.44 euros, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) from 2.74% to 64.52 euros. Renault took 2.66% to 32.25 euros and Saint-Gobain 2.75% to 64.00 euros.
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