The Paris stock market ended August in the red (-0.4%), as did the E-Stoxx50 (-0.1%): the CAC fell to 7,335 points (in volumes that were as poor as ever, with less than 1 billion euros in 8 hours of trading), as investors took note this morning of several statistics concerning France. Wall Street's positive opening of +0.2 to +0.4% (with the Nasdaq registering its 5th consecutive gain) failed to provide any support for the European markets.

Nor do the day's figures: in the second quarter of 2023, France's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in volume terms is confirmed at +0.5% on the previous quarter, according to detailed data from Insee.

Furthermore, consumer prices in France are expected to rise by 4.8% year-on-year in August 2023, marking a significant acceleration after +4.3% the previous month (due to higher fuel prices), according to the provisional estimate produced by Insee at the end of the month.

Finally, in July 2023, French household consumption expenditure on goods rose by 0.3% month-on-month in volume terms, after +0.9% in June, according to Insee's seasonally and working-day adjusted data.

Another busy month on the other side of the Atlantic, with consumer spending up 0.8% in July on the previous month in the US, according to the Commerce Department, a slightly better-than-expected increase on revenues up by just 0.2%.

Meanwhile, the PCE price inflation index stood at an annualized 3.3% for July, accelerating from 3% the previous month. Excluding food and energy, the core PCE rose from 4.1% to 4.2% month-on-month.

Earnings of salaried employees rose by +0.2% vs. +0.3% previously.

Finally, weekly jobless claims fell by -4,000 to 228,000.

There was little reaction on the bond markets: the 30-year yield stood at 4.22%, the 10-year remained unchanged at 4.11%, and the 2-year was slightly tighter at 4.885%.
In Europe, the ten-year German Bund yield fell by -3.5pts to 2.501%, the OAT by -3.9pts to 3.02%.

On the currency front, the dollar (+0.7%) erased its losses of the last 48 hours at 1.0850E.

On the value side, Eramet recovered +11% to 70.6E on the announcement of the resumption of manganese mining operations.

Pernod Ricard (-6.3%) reported a 13% increase in net income, group share, to 2.26 billion euros for its 2022-23 financial year, a rise linked to an 11% increase in operating profit from ordinary activities (ROC), to 3.35 billion.

Eiffage lost nearly 2.5% following the presentation of a 10.7% increase in net income, group share, to 392 million euros for its first half 2023, but with an operating margin down 0.1 points to 9.7%.

Finally, Neoen announces that it now has 3.3 GW of assets in operation or under construction in Australia, 'confirming its position as a leader in renewable energies' in the country where it has already invested, to date, over four billion Australian dollars.

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