After 3 sessions of decline, the Paris Bourse is picking up speed (+1.3%) and the CAC40, which is back above the 7,200 mark, is closing in on last Friday's zenith.
The CAC 40 'GR' is back above the 21,200 mark and is once again in absolute record territory, 1% above the 21,000 mark set on January 5, 2022.200 and is once again in absolute record territory, 1% above the 21,000 of January 5, 2022.
The CAC is driven by Legrand (+6.5%) and Crédit Agricole (+5.5%), which published their results in the morning (see below).
The Euro-Stoxx50 climbs +1.3% to 4.265 in the wake of Amsterdam, which soared +1.6%.
In early trading, it became clear that the Nasdaq's -1.8% fall on Wednesday evening had no impact whatsoever, and that the common thread was the upturn in the bond markets, with OATs and Bunds erasing -7 basis points.

In addition, the rather reassuring inflation figures for Germany seem to be taking precedence over concerns about the evolution of monetary policies.

Consumer price inflation in Germany accelerated slightly year-on-year, to 8.7% in January from 8.6% in December, according to a first estimate published this morning by Destatis, but economists were expecting a sharper acceleration to around 8.9% (always the 'less than expected' trick when the figures are not good after all).

Commerzbank points out, however, that "the national CPI has moved to a new base year, so it is not yet possible to say whether inflation has risen or fallen".

In the US, jobless claims rose by 13,000 in the week to January 30, to 196,000 from 183,000 the previous week, according to the Labor Department.

In addition, the four-week moving average - considered a better indicator of the underlying trend in the labor market - showed a week-on-week decline of 2,500 to 189,750.
Finally, the number of people receiving regular benefits rose by 38,000 to 1,688,000 in the week to January 23, the latest week available for this statistic.

T-Bonds eased -5.6pts to 3.5800%, but the '6-month' only erased -1.5pts to 4.901% and the '1-year' -1.8pts to 4.852%, demonstrating that expectations are tilting in favor of rates going beyond 5.25%, while US growth would suffer by 2024.
With the US earnings season so far proving rather disappointing, investors are on the lookout for the slightest statement from their leaders regarding the business outlook for 2023.

On Wednesday, the Fed Chairman said he would not rule out accelerating the pace of Fed rate hikes if strong economic indicators warranted it.

His comments, which followed the latest jobs report showing that the labor market remained under pressure, as did wages and inflation, immediately influenced rate expectations.
John Williams, the head of the New York Fed, closer to Wall Street, had even firmer words to say about the fight against inflation and the ultimate target for key rates.... and he closes the door on rate cuts before 2024, a scenario that investors refuse to believe in.
According to the CME Group's FedWatch barometer, the estimated probability of a 50bp rate hike at the end of the March meeting, rather than a 25bp hike, has risen from 0% to 9% in less than a week, and a 25bp hike in May now garners 60% of the vote.

There is a growing divergence between the 'hawkish' outlook of central banks and the more 'dovish' outlook of markets", worry the Neuberger Berman teams.

Policymakers are insisting that they will 'stay the course', while markets believe they will 'change direction', the management company points out.

In company news, Legrand unveils a 10.5% rise in net income, group share, to €1 billion for 2022, with an adjusted operating margin before acquisitions of 20.7% of sales, up 0.2 points on 2021.

For 2022, Crédit Agricole SA presents net income, group share, of 5.44 billion euros, down 7% on a reported basis, but up 1.3% on an underlying basis (i.e. excluding specific items).

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield reports adjusted recurring earnings per share (ARPS) of 9.31 euros for 2022, up 34.7%, 'thanks to the performance of the shopping center business and the marked rebound in the convention and exhibition business'... but the Group will not be distributing dividends for the 2022 financial year.

Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.