The Paris stock market is trying to limit its losses after a bright red morning in which the CAC40 lost more than 1.1% and tested an intraday low of 7,170pts.
Losses no longer exceed -0.7% at 7,200pts, while the Euro-Stoxx5 is down -0.9%.

Wall Street is expected to decline slightly (-0.5% on average) as the US trade deficit widened slightly to $65 billion in July, compared with the previous month's $63.7 billion (which was revised from an initial estimate of $65.5 billion), according to the Commerce Department.

This slight 2% month-on-month increase in the deficit reflects a 1.7% rise in US imports of goods and services, to $316.7 billion, and a 1.6% rise in exports, to $251.7 billion

Overall, the rise in oil prices orchestrated by OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, is rekindling fears of a resurgence in inflationary pressures, with the potential consequence of an increasingly restrictive monetary policy on the part of central banks.

As a reminder, Saudi Arabia has decided to maintain the reduction in its production quotas (-1 million barrels/day) until the end of the year, while Russia has announced its intention to reduce its exports of black gold.

As a result, Brent North Sea crude is holding steady at between $89.5 and $90 a barrel, its highest level since autumn 2022, whereas it was still trading at around $72 at the end of June.

While the strength of oil prices should benefit energy-related stocks, it could have an adverse impact on inflation in September and October.

'It's true that this factor won't have a direct impact on core inflation, which excludes energy, but the risk is that this surge will have an indirect effect on other items', warns Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank.

Against a backdrop of rising inflation expectations and rising oil prices, the yield on 10-year T-Bonds is moving back up towards 4.27%, while the German 10-year is tightening by +1.2Pt to 2.618%, and our OATs from 3.14 to 3.15%.

On the economic front, market participants are still awaiting the publication of the ISM services index, which should show that the sector remains in an expansion zone, a sign of the good health of the US economy.
The volume of seasonally-adjusted retail sales fell by 0.2% in the eurozone in July and by 0.3% in the EU, compared with the previous month, according to Eurostat estimates.
Compared with July 2022, the calendar-adjusted retail sales index fell by 1% in the eurozone and by 1.2% in the EU.

In detail, retail sales volume fell by 1.2% for 'fuels', while it rose by 0.4% for 'food, beverages and tobacco' and by 0.5% for 'non-food products'.

In French company news, Kaufman & Broad announced that on September 5 it had signed an agreement to acquire a block of 1,251,000 shares held by Artimus Participations, a company bringing together current and former managers of the real estate group, including its CEO Nordine Hachemi.

Voltalia announces the first injections into the grid of its Rives Charentaises wind farm, straddling the Charente and Vienne rivers (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), whose annual production will avoid the equivalent of 12,700 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Renault announced on Tuesday evening that it had given an investment services provider a mandate to acquire 700,000 shares as part of its share buyback program.


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