The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP/Archives/ERIC PIERMONT)
The Paris Stock Exchange lost ground on Wednesday, investors having little appreciated the statements of the president of the American central bank (Fed) Jerome Powell and the higher than expected figures for British inflation.
The star CAC 40 index fell 0.46%, or 33.20 points to 7,260.97 points. The day before, it had lost 1.01%, already weighed down by concerns related to China.
“The markets sank into negative territory at midday, with the hearing of Fed boss Jerome Powell which was eagerly awaited”, observed Lucas Excoffier, in charge of continental brokerage at Oddo BHF.
In a speech before a Congressional committee, Jerome Powell insisted that “inflationary tensions continued to be high” in the United States and that there was still “some way to go to bring inflation down to 2%”, the Fed’s target.
The head of the Federal Reserve (Fed) especially indicated that “almost all” the members of the Monetary Committee of the institution “expect that it is appropriate to raise interest rates a little further by the end of the year”.
Last week, the Fed marked a pause in its rate hikes in order to assess the impact of its monetary policy, while warning, already on this occasion, that two further rate hikes could occur.
“The market continues to anticipate that the key Fed rates will go up to 5.5% or 5.75%, which means that the next rate hike could potentially be the last, hence a certain wait-and-see attitude of + we are waiting to see +”, according to Lucas Excoffier.
Thursday’s meeting of the Bank of England also encourages them to wait and see, given the latest figures for British inflation, which did not fall back in May as expected by analysts and which reached 8.7% on a year.
What “continue to put pressure on the Bank of England”, judge Mr. Excoffier.
Around 6:15 p.m., the interest rate on the French 10-year debt was worth 2.95%.
Investor doubts about the strength of the Chinese economy weighed on luxury stocks again on Wednesday, which lost between 1.46% for Hermès and 0.83% for Kering.
The post-Covid economic rebound in China has not lived up to analysts’ expectations and the support measures announced this week have been deemed insufficient.
Fimalac strengthens at Casino
Financier Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, through several companies including his holding company Fimalac, said he held 12.05% of the capital of Casino, following an agreement concerning the debt of the parent company of the distributor in difficulty, Rallye, according to a opinion of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) published on Wednesday.
The title took 11.30%, to 8.32 euros, and that of Rallye gained 9.54%, to 2.02 euros.
The distributor also announced an agreement to postpone the payment of 300 million euros in tax and social charges.
© 2023 AFP
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