CAC40: underperforms Wall-Street, which sets a string of records

(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris stock market didn't stay in the green for more than a few minutes at the end of the morning (then around 2pm), as the CAC40 lost almost 0.
3% again, around 7,650 points, penalized in particular by L'Oréal's heavy decline (-6.8) the day after its results.
This was not offset by the +5% rise in Hermès, the 2 stocks having a virtually equivalent capitalization of E230 billion (Hermès outperformed L'Oréal).
The Euro-Stoxx50 (+0.2%) managed to gain +1.4% over the week, setting a new all-time high above 4,720... but this performance was due solely to the Dutch stock Adyen, which jumped +27%, above E1,500.500E.

Paris' under-performance is evident as the 3 main US indices set new all-time records: the S&P500 climbed above 5,005Pts (and reaches +5% in 2024), the Nasdaq-100 gained +0.2% to 17,833 (+25% since October 30, 2023), the Dow Jones (+10Pts to 38.730: it is poised to record a new closing zenith... and perhaps a new absolute high if it breaks through 37,780).
The US indices will gain more than 1% over the week (the 14th positive in a series of 15, the longest in 52 years), while the CAC40 will rise by a mere 0.6 to 0.7%.

The week just ended also revealed major disparities in global growth, with the US economy in insolent health, far ahead of Europe and China, which are tending, at best, to stagnate.

With the increasingly clear prospect of a "soft landing" in the USA, the statements made by several members of the FED: it's not even certain that the FED will "pivot" next May if the labour market remains at its zenith (with wage rises in sight) and if inflation resurfaces, after having eased at the end of 2023, thanks to very positive "base effects".

Macroeconomic conditions should have a greater influence on the markets next week, with the latest inflation figures in the USA, followed by fourth-quarter growth figures in the eurozone.

Meanwhile, equity markets continue to ignore the tension on the interest-rate market, with the most optimistic seeing it as proof of the robustness of the US economy.

The yield on T-Bonds continues to soar, with a 10-year yield of over 4.18% (+1.5Pt), the highest since the start of the year. In Germany, the Bund for the same maturity is approaching 2.38% (+2pts), and our OATs are flirting with 2.90% (+2.5% in 24 hours and +15pts weekly).

Brent crude oil continues to climb (+0.8% to $82.4/barrel), while the euro remains stable against the greenback at $1.077/E.

In news from French companies, Hermès International (+5%) this morning reported a 28% increase in net income (Group share) to 4.31 billion euros for 2023, as well as a 20% increase in operating income before non-recurring items to 5.65 billion, giving a record margin of 42.1% compared with 40.5% in 2022.

L'Oréal last night reported sales of 41.18 billion euros for the year to December 31, 2023, up 11% on a like-for-like basis. Net income, Group share, excluding non-recurring items, came to 6,487 million euros.

Assystem posted sales growth of 17% to 577.5 million euros for 2023, of which 14.6% on an organic basis. Excluding the Pacific activities sold in December 2023, sales came to 563.7 million (for an annual target of around 570 million).

Casino reports that, in accordance with the memorandum of intent signed on January 24, Carrefour has replaced Groupement Les Mousquetaires for the acquisition of certain Casino hypermarkets and supermarkets initially to be acquired by the latter.

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