The Paris Bourse ended the day up 0.66%, at 7,436 points.

The Parisian index benefited in particular from a strong rise in the automotive sector, with +5.8% for Renault and +2.9% for Stellantis, as the market anticipated an easing in interest rates that would boost the market for individual vehicles.

Among the day's best performers, let's not forget Worldline (+5%) and Alstom (+3.5%), both of which are recovering timidly after their recent setbacks (-44% and -54% respectively in 3 months for Worldline and Alstom).

The CAC40 is finally back to its best levels since late July/early August, and is ostensibly (at 1.5%) approaching its all-time high.

Buyers are holding their ground as the US private sector created only 103,000 jobs in November, well below expectations, according to the latest survey by private firm ADP.

This indicator, which comes two days before the much-awaited official statistics from the Labor Department, has triggered a new bout of weakness in bond yields.

At less than 4.15%, the yield on US ten-year paper is back to its lowest level since the end of August.

In addition to the ADP employment statistics, investors learned on Wednesday that non-farm productivity rose by 5.2% in the third quarter, following a preliminary estimate of 4.7%.

Note that the US trade deficit widened to $64.3 billion in October, from $61.2 billion the previous month... but it's been a long time since the accumulation of US deficits disturbed Wall Street.

Investors are still betting on a forthcoming rate cut in the US, even though Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reminded them last Friday that there was still a long way to go before inflation would be brought back down to around 2%.

However, they are hesitant about the timetable the Fed will choose to adopt, and are eagerly awaiting Friday's release of the monthly report on job creation in the US to try to guess the central bank's intentions.

For the time being, the markets are assuming a 55% probability of a Fed rate cut in March, according to the CME Group's FedWatch barometer.

In Europe, industrial orders in Germany have confirmed the recessionary spiral threatening the country, while stagnating retail sales in the eurozone (i.e. down including inflation) show that households are finding it hard to recover from the inflationary shock.

Despite long rates continuing to fall sharply, the dollar remains stable against the euro, at around $1.078/euro.

In Europe, yields continue to ease, with OATs at 2.755% (-4Pts and -85Pts in 2 months) and Bunds at 2.208% (-3Pts).

Oil prices continue to show their heaviness, with Brent crude dropping -3% to $74.6/barrel, confirming the cautious positioning of institutional investors and traders on black gold.

In their "shock" forecasts for 2024, analysts at Saxo Banque yesterday predicted a possible spike in oil prices, to $150 a barrel by mid-year, due to stronger-than-expected demand.

In French company news, Sopra Steria reports that it has won two major contracts, worth a total of £369 million, from National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the British public savings bank best known for its Premium Bonds.

Orpea (+8%) announces the launch of a capital increase with cancellation of the pre-emptive subscription right, reserved for the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, MAIF, CNP Assurances and MACSF Epargne Retraite consortium, with a priority right granted to existing shareholders.
This fund-raising of 1.16 billion euros will result in the issue of 65,173,064,696 new shares at a unit price of 0.0178 euros.

Nokia and Orange announced on Wednesday that they had achieved 800Gbps throughput on the Dunant transatlantic cable, which links France and the USA over a distance of some 6,600 km.

Alstom announced on Wednesday that its Innovia automated monorail system had entered service on the 'pink' line of Bangkok's mass rapid transit (MRT) line.

Finally, Safran announced the signature of a framework agreement with the Moroccan government concerning a mutual commitment to support and develop the aeronautical industrial ecosystem in Morocco.

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