CAC40: slight decline before US inflation, luxury goods in the red

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris Bourse lost 0.
1% this morning, around 8215 points, penalized by Carrefour (-3.8%) and by the contraction of the luxury goods sector, with -2.4% for Hermès, -2% for LVMH and -1.8% for Kering.

After a relatively quiet start to the week, investors will turn their eyes to the other side of the Atlantic in the early afternoon, where US consumer price indexes (CPI) are due to be published, likely to guide the Federal Reserve's next decisions

Optimism has returned to equity markets in recent weeks on the back of reassuring economic indicators, but investors are still wondering about the timing of the Fed's next rate cuts, faced with persistent inflation.

For the teams at Ostrum AM, this afternoon's US CPI will be the real 'justice of the peace' on the world's financial markets this week.

"Despite the likely easing, US inflation could revive market volatility", warns the asset manager.

The consensus is for the CPI index to remain stable at +0.4% sequentially in April, as in March, but also year-on-year, with an average forecast of +3.4%.

Yesterday's better-than-expected producer price figures confirmed the reawakening of inflation, but the downward revision of previous months' statistics reassured the markets.

Wednesday's session promises to be enlivened by other leading indicators, such as US retail sales, which should confirm the slowing trend in consumption across the Atlantic.

Still on the statistics front, in the first quarter of 2024, seasonally-adjusted GDP rose by 0.3% in the eurozone and the EU, compared with the previous quarter, according to the flash estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Meanwhile, in March 2024, seasonally-adjusted industrial production rose by 0.6% in the eurozone and by 0.2% in the EU, compared with February 2024, according to estimates by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

On the bond front, the yield on 10-year US Treasuries continued to ease to around 4.41% (-2.8 pts) ahead of the release of the US inflation report.

The German Bund yield for the same maturity eased 6pts to 2.47%.

In French company news, emeis (ex-Orpea) reported first-quarter 2024 sales of ?1.37 billion, up 11.3%, including organic growth of 9.6%.

Air France-KLM reports that it has successfully placed ?650 million in bonds with a five-year maturity and a coupon of 4.625%, under the Euro Medium Term Note program, in line with the transactions announced earlier this week.

Last but not least, Renault has announced a partnership with Chinese start-up WeRide to develop a range of fully autonomous vehicles for public transport. Le Losange has initiated a new collaboration with its partner with a view to the large-scale commercial deployment of vehicles displaying a level of autonomy known as 'L4'.

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