Paris and New York at the zenith

The health of the planet depends on the tricks of a virus and its variants, but some stock markets remain in great shape. The Cac 40, in Paris, as well as its colleagues Dow Jones and S&P 500, on Wall Street, end 2021 at record prices. The largest American index was even, Wednesday evening, at its 70^e absolute highest of the year …

At 3 p.m. Thursday (given our early press release), the Cac 40 gained 1.4% over four days, nearly 7% over the month of December and 29% over the year, at the end of a little rally which allowed him to exceed, on Tuesday, his previous record of November 19, then to test the threshold of 7,200 points on Wednesday. All this in very small volumes due to the leave of the operators in this truce for the confectioners and by the very long weekend in the City. Paris is thus offering its best stock market year for twenty-two years and stands out at the top of the list of major world stock markets, after a decline of 7.1% in 2020. The Cac 40 therefore tops the S&P 500, which has risen annually by 27.6%. Thanks to its growth stocks (luxury and techs), but also to traditional TotalEnergies (its second weighting), Saint-Gobain or Veolia, Paris can show it to other European markets: Frankfurt and London have increased by around 15%, Zurich (to a record Thursday), 20.8%, and Milan, 23%.

The impressive spread of the Omicron variant and the accompanying health restrictions in Europe remain on the minds of investors, but in the background, as long as this strain proves to be less dangerous than Delta for people and the economy. The markets have also appreciated this week the decision of the American health authorities to reduce the duration of isolation of asymptomatic people from ten to five days. Reassured, they were able to savor the figures showing very dynamic Christmas shopping in the United States, before their New Year’s Eve menu.