The Paris Bourse marks the after having set a new record in session this morning by crossing the symbolic mark of 7,200 points for the first time in its history. This threshold, however, did not hold while Wall Street procrastinated in the first exchanges the day after the first decline of the S&P 500 in five sessions and after having aligned 69 records since January. The American market nevertheless tries to carry out its “Santa Claus rally” which includes the last five sessions of the year and the first two of January.
Investors continue to hope that the acceleration of Omicron variant contaminations will not have a noticeable impact on the economic recovery. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, reported 208,000 new infections in 24 hours in France. The National Assembly’s Law Commission is due to examine this Wednesday the bill on the transformation of the health pass into a vaccination pass that the government hopes to implement on January 15. Transaction volumes remain low with barely 900 million euros traded on the Cac 40 as the end of the year approaches.
Profit-taking to end a good year?
Around 4 p.m., the Cac 40 yields 0.46% to 7,148.10 points after a new historic peak during the session at 7,201.65. In London, the Footsie gained 0.74% on the back of a catch-up after a four-day weekend, while in Frankfurt, the Dax loses 0.78%. In New York, the Dow jones takes 0.23%, while the Nasdaq Composite is stable.
Investors are tempted to take profits after a 17% increase in global financial centers this year. The pandemic, the tightening of the Fed’s monetary policy, inflation and questions about the outlook for the Chinese economy amid the crisis in the real estate sector are the main challenges for 2022. Fears about the Omicron variant appear to be s’ appease because of a lesser dangerousness compared to previous strains, according to recent studies, especially as the probability of confinements at the global level is considered low.
” 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 a slightly slowed recovery into prices, not a shock, he adds.
Teleperformance strengthens in the United States
Biggest increase in the Cac 40, Teleperformance increased by 2% 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”.
Bouygues follows with a gain of 0.8%.
Conversely, TotalEnergies 1.2% drop in the wake of falling crude and gas prices. The US Department of Energy is due to release weekly oil inventory levels at 4:30 p.m.
Valneva fell 2.6% on profit taking after a jump of more than 200% since the start of the year.