The Paris stock market (+0.8% to 6,815pts around 3:30 pm and 6,835 at its highest point around 3:00 pm) smashed its December 13 highs as, of the 4 components of the US "NFP" (employment report), the markets wanted to retain only the one that appeared positive: the moderation in US wages in December (which means less purchasing power, and mechanically less growth).
The Euro-Stoxx50 climbed +0.7% to close in on the 4,000 mark.

Wall Street reopened strongly higher, with +1.2% for the Dow Jones and S&P500, and +1% for the Nasdaq... before losing all or part of this advance within 20 minutes (Nasdaq back into the red, Dow Jones +0.5%), while T-Bonds eased modestly by -3pts to 3.79%.

According to CME Group's FedWatch barometer, the consensus is currently for two 25-point rate hikes in February and March, with a 50-point hike in February not being formally ruled out, with an estimated probability of 41%: a final target of 5.25% seems a reasonable assumption after the 'NFP'.

The US economy generated 223,000 nonfarm jobs in December 2022, according to the Labor Department, a number slightly higher than market expectations (200/220,000 expected), but the unemployment rate eased a further 0.1 points to 3.5%, a sign of great robustness in the labor market.

The labor force participation rate remained more or less stable at 62.3%, a level that remains one point below that of February 2020, and average hourly earnings rose at an annual rate of 4.6%.

In addition, job creations for the previous two months were revised downwards by -21,000 to 263,000 for October and by -7,000 to 256,000 for November, giving a total revision balance of -28,000 for these two months.
The scenario of a continued restrictive Federal Reserve policy persists in the coming months.

'Employment is slowing but not falling, against a backdrop of a shortage of available labour', point out the Oddo BHF teams.

In Europe now, seasonally-adjusted retail sales volume rose by 0.8% in the eurozone in November and by 0.9% in the EU, compared with October 2022, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In October 2022, the volume of retail trade had fallen by 1.5% in the eurozone and 1.4% in the EU.

In addition to US employment figures, investors were informed late this morning of consumer price figures for the eurozone for December: the decline in CPI confirmed the trend towards easing inflationary pressures in the region.

European government bond yields eased: the 10-year German Bund fell by -4.5pts to 2.26%, and the OAT by -5pts to 2.77%.

The price of a barrel of oil rebounded by +0.6% to $79.4 (WTI gained +0.4% to $74.2), but was down by more than 7% over the week, due in part to fears about the health of Chinese industry.

In company news, Getlink reported that its Eurotunnel Le Shuttle passenger shuttle service under the English Channel carried more than 100,000 passenger vehicles between Folkestone and Coquelles over the end-of-year vacation period.

Stellantis announced the creation of Mobilisights, a business unit entirely dedicated to the growth of DaaS (Data as a Service) activities and the development and licensed distribution of B2B products, applications and services.

Eiffage announced yesterday that the consortium comprising Eiffage Métal, leader of the consortium, and EiffageConstruction, had won the contract awarded by STMicroelectronics to extend its production site in Crolles.

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