The Paris Bourse gained a few points, the surprise contraction of jobless claims in the United States adding to other reassuring indicators for the American economy. According to the Labor Department, initial claims for allowances fell from 8,000 to 198,000 for the week to Dec. 24, where the Bloomberg consensus was forecast at 206,000.
Investors continue to hope that governments will refrain from imposing strict restriction or containment measures in the face of the expansion of the Omicron variant, deemed less dangerous than previous strains. Activity is nonetheless limited in this penultimate session of the year, with barely 700 million euros traded on the stocks of the flagship index.
At 2.45 p.m. on Cac 40 takes 0.29% to 7,182.05 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax ended its last, shortened session of 2021 with a limited increase of 0.21%. It gained 15.8% over the year. The contracts futures March on American indices suggests an increase of around 0.1% at the opening. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 posted its 70e record at the end of the year.
Omicron integrated in the courses
Among the main changes of the day is the 1.4% increase inEurofins Scientific and that, of the same magnitude, of Teleperformance, which sets a new record. Among the main supporters of the Cac 40, LVMH and TotalEnergies take around 0.4%.
The markets continued their rally at the end of the year, reinforced by information indicating that Omicron was less dangerous than the Delta variant, which it is in the process of supplanting. According to a South African study published Thursday, a booster dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is 84% effective in preventing hospitalizations among health workers in the country contaminated by Omicron.