The Paris Bourse is entering the home stretch before a slightly extended weekend for Christmas. It will indeed close its doors prematurely on Friday, with a fixing at 2:05 pm, but will reopen Monday at the usual hours.
Yesterday, Wall Street finished in new progression, 0.74% for the Dow Jones and 1.18% for the Nasdaq Composite. In the wake of the American indices, Asia is moving in the green this morning, Tokyo having finished with a gain of 0.83%. European markets are therefore also expected to rise, by around 0.3% for the Cac 40.
” 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.
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.
Good news at Carmat
On the value side, Airbus won a 10 billion euro contract from the French Ministry of the Armed Forces for the supply of 169 helicopters called “Guépard” which are a military version of the H160. Deliveries will begin in 2027.
Engie finalized the sale, for an amount of 1.1 billion euros, of 11.5% of the capital of the gas transmission network operator GRTgaz, to the Société d’Infrastructures Gazières (SIG), an investment vehicle belonging to to CNP Assurances and Caisse des Dépôts. At the end of this transaction, Engie still holds 61% of the interest, the balance being in the hands of SIG.
Carmat announced that it has completed its investigation into the quality issues identified with some of its artificial heart prostheses. The title had plunged earlier this month on the announcement of the suspension of heart implantations.