The Paris Stock Exchange hit a new session record on Thursday, driven by remarkable corporate results that allowed the CAC 40 to end the session in the green, despite the downtrend on Wall Street.
The star CAC 40 index advanced by 0.89%, or 65.30 points, 7,366.16 points, the day after a gain of 1.21%.
At the end of the morning, the index exceeded its previous record of 7,384.86 points, set on January 5, 2022, to reach a new all-time high of 7,387.29 points.
There was a flood of positive events in January and there are not many clouds now, comments Charles de Riedmatten, equity manager of Myria AM, citing very auspicious company publications, the energy crisis sweeps away and lower inflation.
The trend was the same elsewhere in Europe, with the London Stock Exchange breaking record after record for several days and closed Thursday above 8,000 points for the first time in its history.
After a resounding start to the session, the stock market indices were put on the brakes after the publication of the producer price index in the United States, which rose by 0.7% in January over one month, to the highest level since June and significantly above economists’ forecasts (+0.4%).
For Mr. de Riedmatten, this indicator has come to break the positive sentiment observed since the beginning of the year on the markets.
The cycle of disinflation is underway but it will take time and this makes the market think that the Federal Reserve will need to proceed with further increases in its key rates, he explains.
On the bond market, sovereign debt interest rates jumped briefly before returning to stability. The cost of the French 10-year loan ended at 2.93%, very close to its highest in more than 10 years, reached at the end of 2022.
Orange, Pernod Ricard and Airbus salus
The strongest increases in the CAC 40 were observed for companies that published their results on Thursday, in particular Orange (+6.46% to 10.62 euros), whose new strategic plan was well received by investors, but also Pernord Ricard, on the strength of a very good first half according to the group (+3.41% to 195.80 euros) or even Airbus and its record profit (+4.94% to 124.94 euros).
Atos covets
Atos has been driven by the interest of Airbus to acquire 30% of Evidian, the company that Atos is to create to house its cybersecurity activities in particular. Its action jumped 14.61% to 13.53 euros.
Among other results
The results of the world’s third largest producer of glass bottles and packaging Verallia impressed (+7.55% to 37.60 euros), as did the increase in turnover from the Valneva laboratory, which took 4.64% to 6.36 euros.
On the other hand, Aéroports de Paris fell 5.28% to 136.45 euros, despite results in the green. Analysts are worried about a review rising from its investments.
The Klpierre property lost 2.02% to 23.71 euros.