The Paris Stock Exchange rose 0.75% on Wednesday after a session rich in corporate results and a few hours before the announcement of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) to raise its key rates.
The flagship CAC 40 index took 46.49 points, ending at 6,257.94 points in a session filled with rather reassuring results and whose tone was set across the Atlantic by the tech giants Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft.
For Stphane Renou, expert in financial investments at Milleis, the trend of the session is positive although contrasting from one company to another.
Observing reassuring results, Mr. Renou points in the direction of cases which are rebounding very significantly, such as Wordline, Atos and even Elior, which has largely reassured about its prospects for future results.
However, in this period of high inflation and fragile economic environment in Europe, investors remain cautious ahead of the Fed’s rate hike announcement.
The speech of its director, Jerome Powell, who must guide the markets on the future conduct of the central bank, will be particularly scrutinized.
The IMF announced yesterday that it was lowering its forecasts for world growth in 2022. The euro zone thus lost 0.2 points, 2.6%, weighed down by Germany, France and Spain, as a result, between others, of the war in Ukraine.
Gas deliveries from Russia to Germany and other Western European countries were notably reduced on Wednesday to only 20% of the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
Good news in France nonetheless: after several quarters of sharp decline, the number of unemployed fell by 0.8% (excluding Mayotte) in the second quarter, to 3.165 million, the labor market continuing to resist economic uncertainties.
Atos, Wordline and Elior appease
The French computer giant Atos, weakened last year by a decline in its turnover, confirmed on Wednesday its forecast for a stabilization of its sales over the whole of 2022 and reassured investors as to the financing of its split plan.
The share price jumped 16.24%, for a value of 11.55 euros per share.
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The payment specialist Worldline published a deadweight loss, weighed down by the activities of TSS (Terminals, Solutions and Services) being sold to the Apollo fund, but the good health of its activity enabled it to take off on the stock market and finish in increase of 13.76%, 41.59 euros per share.
The collective catering group Elior reported a strong rebound in activity in the first nine months of its 2021/2022 financial year, while stressing that very high and persistent inflation remains a handicap.
The Paris market has received these announcements very well, while the value of its stock has increased by almost a third (+31.35%), reaching 2.74 euros per share.
Eurofins Scientific stings the stock market
Investors reacted with concern (a drop of 7.20% to 75.52 euros per share) to the results of the French giant of medical analysis laboratories, in particular concerning the dynamics of its non-Covid activities. The group has nevertheless raised its targets for 2022, thanks to Covid-19 tests and demand for its other diagnostic products.