Published on Nov 22, 2023 at 5:41 p.m.Updated Nov. 22, 2023 at 5:49 p.m.
The Paris Stock Exchange closed slightly higher, the progression of the majority of its values outweighing the decline of the heavyweight TotalEnergies (-1.7%). While the market was plunged into a sort of pre-Thanksgiving apathy, an OPEC+ announcement sent a small shock wave to crude prices.
The meeting which was to be held this weekend in Vienna between the OPEC countries and its allies, which together form OPEC+, is postponed until Thursday November 30 for a reason that the cartel does not explain in its press release, but which, according to Bloomberg, would be due to Saudi Arabia’s dissatisfaction with the oil production levels of the other members of the alliance.
The Saudi kingdom, which has cut its supply by an additional million barrels per day since July, is negotiating with other countries so that they also limit their production so that prices rise, again according to the Saudi Arabian agency. ‘financial informations. The market widely expected Riyadh to extend this reduction, but the Saudis could reverse such a position if other countries do not make an effort on their side as demand weakens, reacted Pierre Andurand, of Andurand Capital Management, cited by Bloomberg.
With this announcement from OPEC+, oil prices are seeing red. The barrel of Brent fell by more than 4%, to 79 dollars.
The Cac 40 increased by 0.43% today, to close at 7,260.73 points, in a very low business volume of 2.2 billion euros.
Unemployment claims are falling again
On Wall Street, which will be closed tomorrow for Thanksgiving, the indices advance by around 0.4%, not really showing any reaction to the indicators published at the start of the afternoon. After a series of increases, unemployment claims last week recorded their biggest drop since June, to 209,000 against 233,000 previously and 227,000 expected. The decline in orders for durable goods was greater than expected in October (-5.4%), illustrating the precariousness of industrial activity.
Microsoft gained 1.3% after the return of Sam Altman to the general management of OpenAI, a few days after his ouster by the board of directors of the start-up, who, put under pressure by employees and investors, backtracked.
Nvidia lost 3.5%. If the results of the last quarter exceeded expectations, the forecast of a turnover of 20 billion for the current one is below the most optimistic projections of analysts (21 billion). The latter always expect more from the chip manufacturer, whose action has risen 240% (!) since the start of the year. A good reason to take some profits, especially since the future impact of American restrictions on chip exports to China is worrying. But, as Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said this morning, “ let’s take a step back: Nvidia is growing rapidly and has the potential to grow further, but the company’s valuation is also very high, its price has increased almost five-fold since October 2022. Its capitalization exceeds by more than 1,000 billion dollars that of Intel. In summary, the company is growing, but this is already taken into account in the prices.”
Casino further lowers its Ebitda forecast for France
On the Stock Exchange, outside the Cac 40, we will especially note the jump of more than 6% from Elior after announcing an improvement in its results for the financial year ended September 30, 2023 and raising its objective of synergies linked to acquisition of Derichebourg Multiservices (DMS).
Casino dropped 2% after lowering, for the second time in a month, its annual gross operating surplus (Ebitda) target for France, due to a slower than expected recovery in activity in its hypermarkets and the impact of its investments.
Interparfums ends with a gain of 5.3%. The manufacturer of licensed perfumes is targeting a turnover of around 880 million to 900 million euros in 2024 and confirms that it expects to record sales of around 800 million euros this year.
In London, Kingfisher, owner of the Castorama and Brico Dépôt brands, fell by more than 6% after lowering its annual profit forecast for the second time in three months, while market trends turned out to be weaker than expected in France.