The Paris Bourse stole the equilibrium (-0.06%) in the first exchanges on Monday, the few investors remaining cautious at the start of the last week of the year.
The flagship CAC 40 index fell by 4.49 points 7,082.09 points 9:20 am.
On Friday, it ended 0.28%, which did not prevent it from making solid gains for the week, + 2.31%.
Unlike Friday, the American markets as well as the places of Frankfurt and Milan will be open. London, on the other hand, is closed until Wednesday.
This week will be either a feast or a famine, with little in between, says Oanda analyst Jeffrey Halley.
Either stocks will cause strong intraday moves with low liquidity due to the holidays, or volatility will remain flat, he says.
The news for market operators continues to revolve around the Omicron variant.
While new British studies have indicated that Omicron will lead to fewer hospitalizations, its meteoric spread around the world raises fears of restrictions or disorganization in short-term economies.
In France, the executive is mobilized on Monday with a council of ministers to accelerate the change from the health pass to the vaccine pass and to decide on possible other measures against the pandemic.
France crossed the threshold of 100,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, Christmas Day, in 24 hours, with a record number of screening tests carried out. Europe has more than half of new Covid cases over the past seven days.
Worldwide, more than 8,000 flights were canceled on Christmas weekend, due in particular to the quarantine of flight personnel exposed to the coronavirus.
Orange acquires the Belgian VOO
The Belgian subsidiary of the telecommunications operator Orange (+ 0.54% 9.44 euros) announced on Friday the signing of an agreement to acquire nearly 75% of the Belgian operator VOO, an operation estimated at more than one billion euros.
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Tech is worth it
Technology stocks occupied the bottom of the CAC 40 index, such as Worldline (-1.93% 48.42 euros), STMicroelectronics (-1.72% 42.77 euros) or even Dassault Systmes (-0.46% 52.44 euros) ).
On the bond market, the French rate for 10-year bonds rose 0.12%, against 0.08% on Friday, which may weigh on stocks associated with technology, which need low rates to support their high valuation.
Aeronautics nail to the ground
Paris airports (-1.47% 110.80 euros) and Air France-KLM (-0.79% 3.91 euros) suffered in the context of an increase in canceled flights due to the Omicron variant. The Accor workshop was selling 0.42% 28.12 euros.