The Paris Bourse ended the session with one of its biggest gains of the year, up 1.85% at 7060 points, benefiting in particular from the rebound of URW (+8.2%). Teleperformance (+5.3%) - which is due to publish its results this evening - and Worldline (+4.7%) complete the podium of the day's best performers on the CAC.

The markets seem to have clearly appreciated the rather accommodating tone adopted the previous day by the US Federal Reserve: as expected, the Fed maintained its monetary policy unchanged last night, while hinting at the possibility of a further rate hike.

On the statistics front, new orders for US industry rose more vigorously than expected, to +2.8% in September, boosted mainly by a surge in aerospace orders, which soared by more than 92%.

Orders for non-aeronautical capital goods, often considered a reliable barometer of companies' investment plans, rose by 0.8%.
Despite the rebound at the end of Q3, overall orders were up by just 0.7%.

Non-farm productivity rose by 4.7% annualized in the US in Q3 2023, according to the Labor Department's preliminary estimate, following a 3.6% increase in the previous quarter.

These slightly better-than-expected productivity gains over the last quarter are based on a 5.9% rise in production, for an increase of only 1.1% in the number of hours worked.

Given a 3.9% rise in hourly wages, US non-agricultural unit labor costs eased by 0.8% in Q3 2023, as a result of this strong rise in productivity

In addition, the HCOB PMI index for French manufacturing, calculated by S&P Global, fell from 44.2 in September to 42.8 in October, dropping further below the 50 mark of unchanged and posting its lowest level since May 2020.

In the eurozone, the HCOB PMI index for manufacturing industry posted a decline from 43.4 in September to 43.1 in October, signalling a further marked deterioration in the sector's economic situation, remaining below 50 for the 16th month in a row.

It should be noted that Wednesday evening's sharp easing in T-Bonds continued, with yields down 10pts to 4.68%: the bond market seems to have appreciated the rather accommodating tone adopted the previous day by the US Federal Reserve.

The easing in yields is also well underway in Europe: the Bund is down 4pts to 2.71%, and the French OAT is down 5.6pts to 3.32%.

British Gilts fell -8pts to 4.4200%, as the Bank of England confirmed at midday that it would maintain its monetary policy: in view of the fall in inflation in the country and the multiple downward signals on economic activity, the BoE has enough to justify a continuation of the monetary pause begun in September.


On the foreign exchange market, the euro is even up +0.4% against the greenback, at $1.06/euro: traders are taking into account the nearly -30Pts drop in the 10-year yield on the dollar.

On the energy market, Brent crude oil advanced by 1.9% to around $86.5 a barrel.

In French company news, Technip Energies reported EPS for the first nine months of 2023 down 8% to 1.15 euros on an adjusted IFRS basis, and a recurring EBIT margin that improved by 0.3 points to 7.2%, on sales down 9.4% to 4.41 billion euros.

Schneider Electric announced that, after entering into exclusive negotiations with Atos on July 3, it had finalized the acquisition of EcoAct, a specialist in climate consulting and net-zero solutions, following approval by the relevant regulatory authorities.

Alstom announced on Thursday that it had signed an eight-year extension to its rail services agreement with British operator CrossCountry.

Finally, DuPont said it had collaborated with STMicroelectronics to develop a smart wearable device capable of transmitting biological signals.

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