CAC40: underperforming, most indices on record highs

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris Bourse is perfectly stable with 90 minutes to go, despite a clear easing in interest rates, of a rather unexpected magnitude in Europe (-10Pts): the suspense therefore remains as to whether a new closing record will be set.


New records have already been broken by the FT-100 in London (+0.4% to 8.460) and Frankfurt (+0.8% to 18,860), and the Euro-Stoxx50 is not to be outdone, with +0.3% to 5,095/5,100.

The CAC40 has been hovering around 8230 since 2:30 p.m. and the publication of the CPI in the U.S.

The flagship index has been penalized by Carrefour (-3.8%) and Total (-1.5%), as well as by the contraction of the luxury goods sector with -1.2% for Hermès, LVMH and Kering.
On Wall Street, the US indices posted very uniform gains of around +0.5% (+0.4% for the Dow), enough to propel the S&P500 and Nasdaq to new record territory (set at close), with a good margin of safety.

This is exactly what was expected this morning, prior to the release of the CPI (US consumer price index).

Inflation came out perfectly in line with expectations, and in all its components, making this "most anticipated figure of the week" a perfect "non-event".

The CPI slowed slightly in April (by 0.3% vs. +0.4% in March), as expected, to 3.4% year-on-year, after 3.5% in March.

The underlying CPI Core index (excluding energy and food) rose by 0.3% month-on-month, vs. 0.4% in March and a consensus of 0.3%, to 3.6% year-on-year, after 3.8% in March.

These figures tempered concerns over the acceleration in producer prices, but did not completely dispel Jerome Powell's call for patience on Tuesday, as inflation will take some time to resume its decline towards the 2% mark.

It was a day of 'unsurprising figures', as industrial activity contracted again in May in the New York region, but only by a token amount: the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State index came in at -15.6, compared with -14.3 last month.
The new orders sub-index worsened to -16.5, compared with -16.2 in April, as did the number of employees component, which came in at -6.4 after -5.1 last month.

U.S. retail sales were flat on a sequential basis in April, at $705.2 billion, though the slowdown in consumption across the Atlantic is tending to be confirmed.

Still on the statistics front, but in Europe this time, CVS GDP during the first quarter of 2024 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.

Furthermore, 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 eased sharply, by -6pts to 4.385% (ditto on the '2-year') following the publication of the US inflation report.

The German Bund yield for the same maturity is down 10pts to 2.44%, while our OATs are down 11pts to 2.938%.

In French company news, emeis (ex-Orpea) reports 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.

Lastly, Renault has announced its partnership with Chinese start-up WeRide, with a view to offering 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'.

Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.