After a little slack at the end of the morning, the Paris Stock Exchange regains a little more height at the beginning of the afternoon, the Cac 40 gaining again more than 1%, to 6,943.77 points. A rebound that we owe to the prospect of a general opening in the green in New York, where the Dow Jones has just dropped 1,000 points in three sessions and that the S&P 500 has dropped at the same time 3%, its more strong decline since September. Futures contracts currently point to gains of 0.9% to 1.1% depending on the three major indices.
For Mark Hackett, head of investment research at Nationwide, the multiplicity of Omicron variant cases, persistent supply problems, the failure of Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, increased volatility and thinner trading volumes in this shortened week ” could cause the market to overreact, which could be a buying opportunity in the last few days leading up to Christmas “.
Omicron, 73% of new cases
Beyond this rebound of the day, which some already consider to be technical, the Omicron strain remains in everyone’s mind. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Covid variant accounted for 73% of new cases observed as of December 18, compared to 26.6% for the Delta. A week earlier, the latter constituted 87% of new cases, compared to 12.6% for Omicron (less than 3% as of December 11).
In New York City, 7,200 cases are currently seen per day (weekly average), more than twice the 3,200 the previous week. Nationwide, 130,000 cases were detected in one week, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, up 7% in the past two weeks. If the symptoms of this variant appear milder, hospitals may quickly become congested, which is moreover during this holiday season. US President Joe Biden is due to address the Americans tonight on the health issue.
Sale appreciated at Bolloré
On the side of values, cyclicals and banks, traditionally the quickest to profit from cheap purchases, or those which had been most affected by fears about the Omicron variant, are among the strongest gains of the session. The steelmaker ArcelorMittal and the commercial property Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield earn 3.9%, BNP Paribas 3.4%, Renault 2.8%, Airbus and Saffron 2.7% and 2.3% respectively.
In the rest of business news, Sanofi (+ 0.3%) announced the acquisition of the American Amunix Pharmaceuticals, specializing in immuno-oncology for an amount of at least $ 1 billion.
Bollore, on the contrary, is negotiating the sale of Bolloré Africa Logistics, which brings together the group’s transport and logistics activities in Africa, to the maritime carrier MSC for 5.7 billion euros. Excellent reaction on the stock market, the title climbing by nearly 10%. In mid-October, the first indications on the transaction were rather 2 to 32 billion euros. Odet Company, which owns 63% of Bolloré, climbs by 14%.