Second session in the red in two days of August for the Paris Stock Exchange, the tensions around Taiwan having served as a pretext for a few releases of caution after, it is true, a gain of nearly 9% in the month of July, the best monthly performance of the Cac 40 since 2020. At the close, the flagship index lost 0.42%, to 6,409.80 points, in a low business volume of 2.8 billion euros.
China has warned the United States of the consequences of the visit to Taiwan by the speaker of the House of Representatives, considered by Beijing to be an integral part of its territory. Nancy Pelosi, who has started a tour of Asia, landed on the island on Tuesday afternoon. She could, on this occasion, meet with President Tsai Ingwen as part of a meeting of a level unequaled by an American parliamentarian on the island for 25 years.
Pelosi has landed in Taiwan, opening an era of high-intensity competition between China and US over Taiwan Strait. Taiwan is close to Chinese mainland and Beijing has sufficient cards at hand. We will play them one by one confidently. The PLA is announcing a series of actions.
“Hu Xijin???” (@HuXijin_GT) August 2, 2022
Several Chinese fighter jets flew over an area near the Taiwan Strait demarcation line this morning, according to local broadcaster TVBS. ” China will make a firm response and adopt strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. “said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a press briefing.
JPMorgan relativizes
JPMorgan analysts are, for their part, less worried. ” Senators from both sides visited Taiwan this yearincluding Democrats Duckworth and Menendez and Republicans Graham and Scott, they write. The Chinese response to these visits consisted of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait and military aircraft overflights of the island. »
Values linked to Asia and China have, in this context, been the most affected on the stock market, like semiconductor manufacturers. The European Stoxx 600 technology index dropped 2%. The luxury sector also fell back. LVMH lost 1.3% just like Hermes, Kering 1.7%.
Caterpillar notes a slowdown in China
Same trend in New York, where the Dow Jones gives up 0.45% when the Nasdaq Composite is stable. The world leader in construction and mining exploration machinery, Caterpillars, dropped nearly 4% after reporting quarterly revenue a little below expectations and indicating that its growth had slowed in China. Its sales fell in Asia-Pacific. Conversely, Uber jumped 15%. If the quarterly profit disappointed, the turnover turned out to be better than expected. In addition, the VTC specialist released its first cash flow positive.
Among the other values that stood out in Paris, Vilmorin grew by 6.3%. The seed company published a turnover up 6.2% like-for-like for the 2021-2022 financial year and raised its operating margin forecasts to their initial level, after having lowered them in May.
Still at the SRD, Exclusive Networks gained 4.6%. The provider of cybersecurity services and technologies for companies saw its turnover pass the billion euro mark for the first time in its history.
The biggest increase in the Cac 40 came to Sanofi (+2.5%). BofA raised its estimates, including its earnings per share forecast after the pharmaceutical company’s second quarter results. The author of the note reiterated his buy recommendation, noting that the growth of the group and the improvement of the pipeline are ” underestimated “.