The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP/Archives/ERIC PIERMONT)
The Paris Stock Exchange rose 0.50% Monday morning, at the start of a week which began calmly then intensified with the publication of American inflation for January and new company results.
The flagship CAC 40 index rose by 38.58 points to 7,685.99 points around 9:35 a.m. Last week was driven by company results and ended with a slightly positive weekly balance sheet (+0.73%).
“The luxury sector allowed the CAC 40 to finish close to its all-time high last week, notably with the good performances of Kering and Hermès,” comments Christopher Dembik, strategy advisor at Pictet AM.
Publications of company results continue this week with Michelin on Monday, M6 on Tuesday, CapGemini and EssilorLuxottica on Wednesday. Thursday will be a busy day with seven companies from the CAC 40 and five from the SBF 120 presenting their quarterly and annual accounts.
“The industrial sector, which has contributed the most to the rise of the CAC 40 since mid-October, will publish its results including Airbus, Stellantis and Renault. It’s double or nothing,” warns Christopher Dembik.
The robust results presented by American technology companies helped push the S&P 500 index, the most representative of the American market, above 5,000 points for the first time in its existence on Friday, a new record.
The expanded index, created in 1857, crossed this symbolic threshold almost three years after passing 4,000 points in April 2021. Since the start of the year, it has gained around 5%.
The general optimism of the markets is also fueled by statistics which show that the American economy is not weakening in the face of high interest rates.
Investors anticipate that central banks will now lower their key interest rates, given the slowdown in inflation in recent months.
In this context, Tuesday’s publication of the January consumer price index in the United States “the obvious point of attention” of the week according to Deutsche Bank analysts.
On Monday, investors will listen to a speech by the chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB) Philip Lane, as well as a speech by ECB board member Piero Cipollone.
On the bond market, interest rates on sovereign debt are tending to stabilize after a sharp rise at the start of the month. The yield on France’s ten-year bond stood at 2.86%, compared to 2.89% at Friday’s close.
L’Oréal bounces back
The share of cosmetics giant L’Oréal topped the CAC 40 with an increase of 2.18% to 427.95 euros. On Friday, its stock fell by more than 7%, after results considered disappointing in the fourth quarter.
At the same time, the luxury group Hermès had climbed almost 5%, allowing it to overtake L’Oréal in terms of market valuation and to become the second largest capitalization on the Paris Stock Exchange, behind LVMH.
“That we are in a small but healthy competition of the largest market capitalization, it is basically the symbol that there is a France which is winning and a France with know-how in the field of luxury, in the field of beauty”, reacted Nicolas Hieronimus, general director of L’Oréal, interviewed by BFMTV.
© 2024 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends using the buttons below.
