The Paris Bourse is once again installed in the green this Thursday, extending its movement of the day before and in the wake of the good session of Wall Street on Wednesday. In the middle of the day, the Cac 40 progressed for a third session in a row, by 0.36%, to 7,074.88 points, in a low trading volume of 680 million euros.
” For the first time since Thanksgiving, markets appear to calm down as volumes level off as Christmas approaches, says Chris Hussey, managing director of Goldman Sachs for CNBC. The triple headwinds of increasing virus cases, a more offensive Fed and uncertain fiscal stimulus are well absorbed at current equity valuation levels. “
For now, December, traditionally the quietest for the markets, is the most volatile of this year 2021, according to calculations by Bespoke Investment Group, based on the daily movements of the S&P 500 since 1953. ” the news flow is negative in the near term as the Omicron wave raises concerns about how corporate earnings will move, but investors are increasingly bullish beyond the next few weeks », Explains Adam Crisafulli, at Vital Knowledge.
Household spending in the spotlight
Good news, however, on the health front, and likely to fuel the optimism of operators. Pfizer’s Covid-19 pill has been urgently authorized by the United States Medicines Agency (FDA), which could provide millions of sufferers with access to treatment. In addition, studies conducted in South Africa and the United Kingdom revealed yesterday that the risks of hospitalization are lower with Omicron than with the Delta variant.
Five statistics are on the afternoon program across the Atlantic: weekly jobless claims (consensus: 205,000), new home sales in November (consensus: + 3.4%, to 770,000 units at an annualized rate), durable goods orders for the same month in preliminary data (+ 1.8% over one month), the final consumer confidence index in December as measured by the University of Michigan (consensus: 70.4), finally consumer income and expenditure in November. It is these household expenses that will be the most closely watched in this list of appointments. They will be unveiled at 2:30 p.m.
Automotive OEMs at the forefront
On the value side, Airbus (+ 0.3%) won with the French Ministry of the Armed Forces a contract worth 10 billion euros for the supply of 169 helicopters called “Guépard” and which are a military version of the H160. Deliveries will begin in 2027.
Among the strongest increases of the day, we find especially the automotive suppliers (+ 4.9% for Plastic Omnium, + 3.4% for Valeo, + 2.9% for Burelle and + 2.8% for Faurecia). Germany’s Continental has said it could hit the upper end of its 2021 margin forecast, given the resumption of vehicle production in the fourth quarter.