The Paris stock market ended in extremis at equilibrium (7196 pts, +0.03%), at the end of a day which saw the Parisian index alternate between red and green on several occasions.

The CAC thus marks a pause after six consecutive sessions of decline.

Investors took note of a flurry of statistics on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday, with Eurozone GDP growth coming in at +0.1%, after being revised from -0.2%.

Nor is there any cause for rejoicing in the United States, where non-agricultural productivity rose by just 3.5% at an annualized rate in the second quarter of 2023, according to the Labor Department, which had announced a preliminary increase of 3.7% a month ago.

Taking into account a 5.7% rise in hourly wages (2 pts above inflation), non-agricultural unit labor costs in the US rose by 2.2% in the second quarter of 2023.

The robustness of the labor market continues to surprise: the number of registrations for unemployment benefits in the US fell by a further -13.000 in the week to August 28, to 216,000 according to the Labor Department (the lowest total for 7 months).

The four-week moving average - considered a better indicator of the underlying trend in the labor market - shows a clear 8,500 drop in the number of registrations compared with the previous week, to 229,250.

The news is not good in Europe, starting with Germany, where industrial production contracted by -0.8% (instead of the expected -0.3%), while energy prices continue to weigh on factory profitability.

In the euro zone, household final consumption expenditure remained stable, while that of public administrations rose by 0.2%. Exports fell by 0.7% and imports rose by 0.1%.

The fixed-income markets are trying to halt the slide that began on Friday, but it's proving laborious and unconvincing, with only -0.5 basis points on T-Bonds at 4.2880% (the FED may not have finished raising rates, and the meeting at the beginning of November could give rise to a new round of tightening).

In its 'Beige Book' published on Wednesday, the Fed did, however, mention a slowdown in US activity and price growth in recent weeks, as well as an easing in wage pressures (and the word 'inflation' is a little less frequent in the monthly summary).

Yields on benchmark government bonds in Europe are easing slightly, to 2.623% on the German Bund (-3.5pts), and 3.148% on our OATs (-3.8pts).

Brent crude oil remains stable at a high level, around $90.5 a barrel (-0.15%).

Across the Atlantic, Apple posted a second consecutive session at -3.5% for the same reason: Beijing is beginning to restrict or ban the use of foreign-brand smartphones by Chinese civil servants in the workplace.

It's clear to everyone that this penalizes Apple in particular, especially 10 days before the presentation and a few weeks before the launch of the '15' version of its i-Phone.

In French company news, Nexity announces the effective sale of its activities in Portugal to Orion European Real Estate Fund V, a real estate investment fund managed by Orion Capital Managers.

Air France-KLM reports that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Etihad Airways to strengthen their collaboration, notably by extending their code-share and interline agreements introduced in 2012, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

Capgemini announced on Thursday that it will collaborate with US enterprise software developer Salesforce to deliver a new generation of customer experiences based on generative AI.

Thales announced that it had been awarded an SES (in-service support) contract by the Canadian government for the Royal Canadian Navy's small warships and auxiliary vessels, reinforcing its role as a key partner for the country.

Finally, Atos announces the renewal, for a further six years, of a framework agreement with CNES for the provision of space engineering and computing services, as leader of a consortium of French and European players.

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