The Paris Stock Exchange experienced a fourth session of increase on Wednesday (+0.69%), letting itself be carried by the positive dynamic born from the latest macroeconomic data.
The flagship CAC 40 index gained 55.73 points to finish at 8,131.41 points, its highest closing level since April 4. On Tuesday, it had already gained 0.99%.
The Parisian rating has recovered significantly: after having closed on May 2 at its lowest level in more than two months, 7,914.65 points, it has since recovered 2.74% and is now close to its record closing points. (8,205.81 points, March 28).
In a lighter week with few macroeconomic indicators on the agenda and off days in Europe, investors remain optimistic amid weaker employment data in the United States on Friday, allowing them to believe more in a policy more flexible of the American Central Bank.
Since then, there has been little data to contradict this image, explains Peter Vanden Houte, an economist at ING.
After having fallen significantly since the beginning of May, the French State’s interest rate for the 10-year loan, the benchmark maturity, has rebounded a little, towards 2.94% against 2.90% at the end of May. day before.
Another favorable factor on the markets, oil prices have fallen significantly for several days, helping to reduce inflationary pressures, explains Peter Vanden Houte.
Inflation in the euro zone is approaching the 2% target of the European Central Bank, which gave several indications in the direction of a reduction in key interest rates at its June meeting.
At the same time, data on economic activity show that the second quarter is well underway, with a recovery, notes the economist.
In the United States, the central bank is not expected to lower its rates until September at the earliest, according to analysts, but investors have at one time thought in recent weeks that it could go so far as to raise them again due to the lack of progress on inflation.
On Wednesday, the Central Bank of Sweden lowered its main key rate, a first in eight years, highlighting lower inflation.
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Alstom is moving forward with its debt reduction
The railway manufacturer Alstom, in financial difficulty, more than doubled its net loss in the 2023/24 fiscal year, to 309 million euros compared to 132 million euros a year earlier, under the effect of a number of exceptional charges, according to its results published on Wednesday.
This financial performance is much worse than what analysts predicted – those surveyed by Bloomberg expected a net profit of 123.9 million euros for the annual financial year. But the adjusted operating result (supposed to reflect recurring operational performance) amounted to 997 million euros, up 17%, more than expected.
The group also announced a capital increase of nearly a billion euros and a hybrid bond issue (accounted for half in equity) of around 750 million in order to complete its debt reduction plan, which reassures investors.
The action changed direction a lot during the session, ending with a strong increase of 9.36% 17.11 euros.