The Paris Stock Exchange finished almost in balance (+0.04%) on Friday, narrowly beating its previous closing record established the day before, at the end of a week dense with macroeconomic publications and a few days before the next meeting of the American central bank.
The flagship CAC 40 index gained 2.93 points, 8,164.35 points, its new all-time high.
This week the inflation data in the United States left no stone unturned, production prices in particular surprised everyone, explains Charlotte de Montpellier, economist at ING.
The lackluster macroeconomic indicators published this week show that inflationary pressures are still present and weigh on expectations of rate cuts from the American central bank, the Federal Reserve (Fed), continues the economist.
While markets are already anticipating that the Fed will keep its rates unchanged after its meeting next week, they are only forecasting three rate cuts this year and uncertainties are beginning to weigh on the first rate cut in June, which is the preferred scenario for several weeks, adds Charlotte from Montpellier.
Despite this, the CAC 40 increased by 1.70% over the week.
The data coming in from the United States overall does not signal a recession, so the market is saying that even without rate cuts, the economy perform well and that companies will succeed in generating profits, explains the ING economist.
Furthermore, in Europe, the expected rate cuts are much more certain than in the United States, there is a very high consensus for the month of June as a chance for a first rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) .
On the bond market, rates remained stable in Europe and the United States, but increased significantly over the week: the interest rate on the 10-year American bond rose to 4.29% compared to 4.07% previously. Friday, the German same luck was worth 2.43%, against 2.27%, finally, the French moved 2.87% against 2.71%.
Europapi always worse
The French manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients plunged 17.51% to 2.70 euros, after announcing a suspension of its financial outlook for 2024 following quality control failures, which forced it to interrupt production at its Italian site from Brindisi.
The share, which had already fallen by 40% on February 29 after disappointing prospects, plunged very far from its May 2022 IPO price, which was 12 euros.
The Bollor Group in decline
The conglomerate saw its net profit fall by 92% in 2023 to 268 million euros after a year 2022 marked by exceptional profits linked to the sale of its logistics activities in Africa, according to a press release published Thursday evening.
The title fell 1.22% to 6.09 euros.