The Paris Stock Exchange hovered around equilibrium on Thursday morning after opening higher, digesting the speech of the head of the American central bank who indicated that the hikes in his interest rates would slow, but that they would remain high for longer. long time.
The star CAC 40 index (-0.01%) fell by 0.65 points to 6,737.90 points around 10:20 a.m. The day before, the Parisian place had closed up 1.04%, ending the last session of November with an index which jumped 7.5% over the month.
After European markets closed on Wednesday, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) confirmed what equity markets were expecting by indicating that a more moderate rate hike than previous ones was in sight for the next Fed monetary meeting. December 14.
Jerome Powell has thus endorsed the scenario already anticipated by investors of a rate hike of 50 basis points, against 75 basis points during the four previous increases.
But for all that, he warned that the work was far from over: “inflation remains far too high”, he hammered.
So, “while Mr. Powell’s words on Wednesday can be said to have been rather measured – slower rate tightening but higher rates for longer – last year has proven to us that it is almost within the realm of the impossible to anticipate the path of inflation,” commented Craig Erlam of Oanda.
“And more importantly, what matters is not so much that the increases are less substantial than expected, but to know how far they can go and for how long”, also judges Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote.
On the bond market, the French 10-year rate fell to 2.33% against 2.39% the day before.
Today’s session will be punctuated by several economic indicators. In the United States, the number of weekly jobless claims will be published, the figure for household income and expenditure in October, the ISM manufacturing activity index for November and the PCE inflation index, the preferred barometer of the Fed, for October.
“The manufacturing PMIs released today in Europe should also reinforce the scenario of a slowdown in growth. The November manufacturing PMIs in Spain, Italy, France and Germany are respectively expected to be confirmed at 45.9, 47, 49.1 and 46.7″, according to Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.
Profits no longer shun Pierre et Vacances
The Pierre et Vacances group, the European leader in leisure residences, has returned to profit, thanks in particular to new investors, and generated a net profit of 325 million euros during its 2021/2022 financial year. he announced on Thursday. Its share price rose 8.11% around 10:20 a.m., to 0.92 euros.
The “tech” is displayed in green
The tech sector was trending higher. Around 10:20 a.m., Atos gained 4.29%, Dassault Systèmes 3.19%, STMicroelectronics 3.29%, OVH took 1.56% and Wordline 1.40%.
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