Every day has its American date. After consumer prices on Tuesday and producer prices on Wednesday, operators looked at retail sales in August on Thursday. The Commerce Department, which unveiled the statistic at 2:30 p.m., reported a 0.3% increase in sales compared to July, while economists polled by Bloomberg anticipated a slight decline of 0.1%. . On the other hand, excluding automobiles, fuels, building materials and food services, retail sales remained stable. ” This suggests that falling gasoline prices are not significantly boosting real consumptioncomments Andrew Hunter, senior economist at Capital Economics. But that could change in the coming months as consumer confidence recovers and, for now, the data is still consistent with a reasonably strong rebound in GDP in the third quarter. »
This indicator has in no way changed the market’s expectations in terms of key rates. The US Federal Reserve, whose policy committee will meet on September 20 and 21, is expected to opt for a third consecutive 75 basis point hike in the cost of money – an estimated probability of 80% according to calculations by CME Group on the basis of future contracts on Fed funds -, which would bring their rate between 3% and 3.25%, against 0%-0.25% until March. The Fed could even hit harder, 100 basis points, if its most “hawkish” members manage to make their voices heard.
The other American statistics of the day did not have more influence. Whether it’s the weekly registrations at the unemployment – they fell from 5,000 to 213,000-, manufacturing activity in the New York area, which showed signs of improvement in September while remaining in a contraction phase, or industrial production, which recorded a surprise contraction 0.2% in August when the market expected stabilization.
Analysts at work
Faced with what seems inevitable, the Bedroom 40 remained cautious, losing ground for the third session in a row. The Parisian index dropped 1.04%, to 6,157.84 points, in a transaction volume of 3.22 billion euros.
On the values front, Societe Generale gained 1.18%, after Morgan Stanley raised its target price from 32 to 34 euros while maintaining its opinion of “outperforming”. More generally, the broker has raised its opinion on European banks to “attractive”, which it considers inexpensive and resilient in terms of profits.
Accor took 2.04%. Berenberg improved its target price from 32 to 34 euros on the title of the hotel group in a sector where the acceleration of the recovery is not reflected in prices. The analyst anticipates a strong increase in revenue per room (RevPar) in 2023 across the sector.
Finally, LVMH announced a plan to reduce its energy consumption by 10% between October 2022 and October 2023, thanks to the extinction of the night lighting of its stores in France and the reduction of the interior temperature in its premises. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has asked companies to put in place energy saving plans in the face of the risk of supply disruptions in the context of the Ukrainian conflict. In July, Emmanuel Macron set a target of reducing energy consumption by 10% in France.