The Paris Bourse barely slows its pace as the initial uptrend on Wall Street begins to reverse downwards (Nasdaq -0.4%, S&P500 hesitant): the CAC40 (+1%) remains in contact with the 7.100, but volume is the big absentee, with only 1.6 billion euros exchanged 45 minutes before the close.
Once again, in the absence of alarming news (concerning a bank or a risk of recession), sellers pull out of the game and the market rises in a vacuum.
The European stock markets gained a healthy +1% on average, despite a sharp fall in interest rates: bond markets suffered from the risk-on effect on equities, with OATs stretching +10pts to 2.76% and T-Bonds +11pts to 3.491%.
Although fear has subsided (notably following Olaf Scholz's reassuring statements on Deutsche Bank), the markets have not yet returned to the state of mind seen before the correction in banking stocks.
But there was more good news from Germany: the Ifo business climate index in Germany climbed from 91.1 points in February to 93.3 points in March, marking its fifth consecutive rise, despite the stress in the banking sector...a development mainly attributable to business expectations.

'This increase suggests that Germany is still benefiting from lower energy prices and easing supply problems, and has not yet felt the full effects of tighter monetary conditions', reacts Capital Economics.

One of the elements to watch over the next few days will once again be the evolution of inflation, which remains one of the markets' main concerns.

Investors will be on the lookout for further signs of price pressures with the release on Thursday of the latest inflation figures for the Eurozone, to be followed on Friday by those for consumer prices as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index in the USA.

On the whole, market participants believe that the recent tensions in the banking sector will help to tighten financial conditions, so that less action will be needed from central banks.
On the currency front, the Euro rallied +0.2% to 1.0780, while the Dollar-Index fell -0.2% to 102.90, back to within 1% of its recent lows.

In French company news, Orpea (-10% to 2.00E) announces the opening of an accelerated safeguard procedure by the Nanterre Commercial Court, with an initial observation period set at two months, which may be renewed by two months without exceeding a maximum total of four months.

Latécoère reports (-12%) net income from continuing operations of -86.7 million euros for 2022, compared with -110 million for the previous year, and recurring EBITDA of -8.5 million euros, a clear improvement of 23.7 million.

Vinci announces that its subsidiary Seymour Whyte has won two new strategic road transport infrastructure projects in the Australian state of New South Wales, worth a total of around €240 million.

Finally, on March 13, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced that the DGA (Direction Générale de l'Armement) had declared the qualification of the F4.1 standard (first brick of the F4 standard) for the Rafale fighter aircraft built by Dassault Aviation.


Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.