The Paris Stock Exchange expected to rise slightly before the Fed boss’s speech

The Paris Stock Exchange is expected to rise at the opening on Friday, the second day of the big meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole in the United States, where investors will be very attentive to the speech of the boss of the American central bank (Fed).

The futures contract of the CAC 40, the flagship index of the Paris market, took 0.39% about forty minutes before the opening. The day before, he was the only one among the main European indices to stagnate amid the market rebound, losing 5.20 points to 6,381.56 points.

Showing a loss of 1.76% in the week before the opening, the CAC 40 could conclude a second consecutive week in the red, after a golden series of six weeks of gains during the summer.

Since the last speech by Fed boss Jerome Powell, when the institution raised its key rates by 75 basis points at the end of July, investors have largely bet that it would gradually reduce the strength of its monetary tightening to avoid hitting the economy too hard.

This scenario is now called into question and Jerome Powell finds himself in the rather difficult situation of having to gently accompany the decline of the markets while they have to get the idea of ​​a macroeconomic context less good than envisaged, explains Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.

It must put an end to the idea that the key rates of central banks will gradually decline before 2024, warns Mr. Hewson.

Added to this in Europe is the growing pressure of gas prices on the health of the economy, fueling inflation in the euro zone which has persisted since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

On Thursday, the price of European natural gas on the benchmark market, the Dutch TTF, closed at 321.414 euros per megawatt hour, a new closing record. Around 8:25 a.m. on Friday, the price of gas fell by 11.10% to 285.00 euros.

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In the United Kingdom, the British learned on Friday morning of the 80% increase in the energy price cap, with entry into force in October, while the day before in France, the Minister for Energy Transition announced that individuals and small businesses would be encouraged to moderate their electricity consumption during peak demand this winter.

Values ​​follow Friday

EDF: four nuclear reactors, affected by corrosion problems, will see their shutdown extended by several weeks this fall, a delay which could stretch the country’s electricity supply a little more and feed an already unprecedented surge in prices.

Eiffage: the concessionaire specializing in particular in construction and public works announced Thursday after the closing of the Stock Exchange that it had won the contract for equipment and traction works for line 18 of the Grand Paris Express for an amount of 26 million euros, in within the framework of the consortium formed with the British Colas Rail.

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