The Paris Stock Exchange finished slightly higher on Monday, marginally improving its closing record for the third time in a row during a calm session in the absence of Wall Street and macroeconomic indicators.
The flagship CAC 40 index advanced 0.37 points from its last record close, finishing at 7,768.55 points. It gained 1.25% last week, setting new highs both during the session and at the close.
In the absence of the American markets, closed due to a public holiday, “the European markets had difficulty taking a position,” explains Lionel Meka, partner at Swann Capital.
This trend towards inertia has been growing in recent years “because global markets revolve with the technology sector”, which is much more present across the Atlantic.
The main meeting of the investor week will undoubtedly be the results of the giant Nvidia on Wednesday. The value of its share was multiplied by more than three in 2023, and will rise by more than 45% in 2024, driven by the insatiable appetite of investors for Artificial Intelligence. “Expectations are therefore very high” before this publication, underlines Mr. Melka.
But overall, the corporate results season was positive from the point of view of investors, which boosted the indices, explains the manager.
“The narrative on the fall in rates”, which began to carry the indices in November, with the prospect of a change of course in central bank policies, “will eventually wear out”, but not “that of the ‘Artificial intelligence’, the effect of which, according to him, is not yet visible in the financial accounts of many companies.
On the bond market, the 10-year rate of the French bond increased slightly to reach 2.88%.
Forvia shaken
The automotive supplier Forvia fell 12.66% to 14.04 euros after its results, and despite a start to the session with a sharp increase of more than 5%. It announced a plan that could reduce its workforce in the region by 10,000 people by 2028. Its stock is at its lowest level in a year.
“We consider as positive its desire to tackle competitiveness problems in the European Union, but it also confirms that the dynamics should remain difficult in the long term in this region which remains the most important” for this sector, recall the analysts of Oddo in a note.
The equipment manufacturer Valeo also fell 6.86% to 10.93 euros.
Thales sanctioned
On the flagship index, the biggest drop was for Thalès (-4.73% to 134 euros), whose rating by UBS analysts was revised downwards. “We see short-term headwinds for DIS [division Identité et sécurité numériques, notamment la cybersécurité NDLR]and longer-term headwinds in space, which are not fully accounted for by the consensus,” according to them.