A sluggish start to August on the Paris Bourse and on Wall Street, under the influence of tensions between Beijing and Washington around Nancy Pelosi’s possible visit to Taiwan. Combined with fears about global growth, this episode jeopardizes the continuation of the rebound which enabled the major financial centers to sign in July their best monthly performance since 2020.
Around 4 p.m., the Bedroom 40 lost 0.40% to 6,410.85 points in a business volume of 1.15 billion euros. In New York, the Dow Jones loses 1.05% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.42%. Caterpillar fell 4.6%, weighed down by quarterly sales below expectations, the giant of construction and mining machinery citing in particular a slowdown in sales in China. Conversely, Uber jumped 13%. If the quarterly profit disappointed, the turnover turned out to be better than expected. In addition, the VTC specialist generated its first positive cash flow.
China has warned of the consequences of the possible visit of the speaker of the American House of Representatives to Taiwan, considered by Beijing as an integral part of its territory. Nancy Pelosi, who has started a tour of Asia, should land on the island this Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. local time, according to the daily Liberty Times. On this occasion, she could meet with President Tsai Ingwen as part of a meeting of a level unequaled by an American parliamentarian on the island for 25 years.
Technology and luxury collateral victims
Several Chinese fighter jets flew over an area near the Taiwan Strait demarcation line this morning, according to local broadcaster TVBS. ” China will make a firm response and adopt strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. “said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a press briefing.
Semiconductor manufacturers are among the victims of these tensions since the bulk of chip production comes from Asia. The European Stoxx 600 technology index dropped 2%.
Sensitive to the political and economic situation in China, the luxury sector is also falling back. LVMH loses 1.8%, Kering 1.5% and Hermes 0.9%.
On the contrary, the values related to defense are surrounded in the image of .Dassault Aviation which takes 1.4%.
On the sovereign debt front, the yield on the US 10-year bond hit a four-month low of 2.4982% this morning before returning to around 2.58% thanks to a “flight to quality”. That of the German Bund of the same maturity relaxes by 2 basis points to 0.7520% after touching 0.71% this morning, unheard of since April.
Sanofi boosted by Bank of America
At the SRD, Vilmorin increased by 5.7%. The seed company published a turnover up 6.2% like-for-like for the 2021-2022 financial year and raised its annual forecasts after having lowered them in May.
Biggest increase in the Cac 40, Sanofi rises 2.6%. BofA raised its estimates, including its earnings per share forecast after the second quarter results. The author of the note reiterated his buy recommendation, noting that the growth of the group and the improvement in the pipeline are “undervalued”.
ADP increased by 1.2%. HSBC raised its recommendation on the airport operator’s title from “lighten” to “keep”.
Finally, Exclusive Networks takes 4.7%. The provider of cybersecurity services and technologies for companies saw its turnover pass the billion euro mark for the first time in its history.