Tuesday’s record in hand, the Paris Bourse is trying to conquer new highs after crossing the symbolic threshold of 7,200 points in session for the first time in its history. Investors continue to hope that the acceleration of Omicron variant contaminations will not have a major impact on the economic recovery. Trading volumes remain low with barely 450 million euros traded on the Cac 40 as the end of the year approaches, despite the reopening of the London Stock Exchange after a four-day weekend .
Shortly before noon, the Cac 40 clusters 0.07% to 7,186.06 points after a new historic peak during the session at 7,201.65. In London, the Footsie gained 1.01% thanks to a catch-up, while in Frankfurt, the Dax yields 0.29%. For its part, the Stoxx Europe 600 posted a new all-time high at 490.10 points, the previous one going back to mid-November. The contracts futures March on US indices gained between 0.1% and 0.4%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 narrowly missed a 70e record closing this year after having hit a new peak in session, interrupting a series of four consecutive increases. The Nasdaq Composite also folded, while the Dow Jones nabbed a few points. The American market is wondering about the consequences of disruptions in air transport due to the Omicron variant, but for now, the new wave promises to be less dangerous than feared and the probability of confinements at the global level is considered low.
Towards profit taking after the “Santa Rally”?
Investors are tempted to take profits after a 17% increase in global financial centers this year. The pandemic, the Fed’s tightening of monetary policy and questions about the outlook for the Chinese economy amid the crisis in the real estate sector are among the main risks for 2022. Fears about the Omicron variant appear to be easing as a result less dangerous compared to previous strains, according to recent studies. ” Although the contaminations at Omicron in the United States and in Europe, among others, continue to increase strongly, this is not yet reflected negatively in the economic indicators. Says Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda. As activity is sharply reduced on the markets during this holiday season, investors are keen to integrate prices into a slightly thwarted recovery, not a shock, he adds.
Teleperformance sets foot in the United States
On the macroeconomic front, the market will watch this afternoon the US foreign trade figures and the November housing sales promises in the United States, not to mention the weekly oil stocks. These fell 3.1 million barrels last week, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade association. The market expects a slowdown in the contraction for official data to 3.18 million barrels for the week to December 24, against 4.71 million seven days earlier.
Biggest increase in the Cac 40, Teleperformance increased by 2.1% and set a record. The group announced the acquisition of Senture, specializing in the outsourced management of business processes to administrations in the United States, for an enterprise value of 400 million dollars (353.5 million euros). The operation, which will be fully funded by bank debt, is expected to be positive by around 5% on earnings per share and will open up new opportunities in the United States, says Teleperformance. Gilbert Dupont raised his target price from 410 to 430 euros on the tour title while maintaining his opinion to “accumulate”.
Kering and Vivendi follow with gains of 1.3% and 0.8% respectively.
Conversely, Valneva fell 3% on profit taking after a jump of more than 200% since the start of the year.