The Paris Bourse has enchanted a second session of strong growth Tuesday, breaking its records in session and closing while fears about disruptions related to the Omicron variant continue to dissipate for investors.
The CAC 40 index gained 100.19 points (+ 1.39%) to close 7,317.41 points, a record. During the session, he peaked 7,332.21 points, his new high.
The day before, it had finished up 0.90%, already setting a new record.
Investors have been 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 trouble-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 in the last 24 hours, a record, the Minister of Health Olivier Vran announced on Tuesday to the National Assembly.
As a result, investors 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 shares, explains Mr. 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 constraints 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 rate for ten-year US government bonds recovered four points, 1.67%, approaching the highs of 2020.
It is even astonishing that rates remained so low at the end of last year, when the American Federal Reserve announced that it planned to hike its key rates three times in 2022, explains Wolhandler.
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Sensitive to these variations, the banks were the most visible on the CAC 40 index: Socit Gnrale jumped 4.83% 31.93 euros, BNP Paribas 3.35% 63.25 euros and Crdit Agricole 2.37% 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% 393.40 euros and STMicroelectronics 1.78% 43.22 euros . Ubisoft (video games) has lch 3.01% 41.59euros.
Health suffers, Valneva plummets
The prospects of emerging from the Covid-19 crisis hurt companies whose activity depends on the fight against the epidemic: the analysis laboratory Eurofins Scientific fell 4.91% 101.52 euros, Sanofi by 1.41% 88.07 euros, Sartorius Stedim 7.86% 441.90 euros and Valneva, which is developing a vaccine, 23.70% 17.64 euros.
Travel and industrial winners
Taking advantage of the prospect of reopening the economy, Air-France-KLM jumped 8.13% 4.39 euros, the Accor workshop 3.96% 30.44 euros, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) 2.74% 64.52 euros. Renault took 2.66% 32.25 euros and Saint-Gobain 2.75% 64.00 euros.