For the past 6 hours, the Paris Bourse has been oscillating within a narrow 7,320/7,340 corridor, losing 0.25% on average since 9:45 a.m.
In neighbouring France, Frankfurt lost -0.5%, but London stood out with +0.5%: the Euro-Stoxx50 mirrored Paris' performance with -0.3%.

On Wall Street, the S&P500 (-0.3%) and Nasdaq (-0.5%) reopened lower, while the Dow Jones managed a solo gain of +0.2%.

The CAC40 did not benefit from the release of encouraging figures for France and the eurozone.
Production in the French manufacturing industry rebounded in February (+1.3% after -1.5%), as in industry as a whole (+1.2% after -1.4%), according to Insee's CVS-CJO data.

Over one month, it picked up significantly in transport equipment (+5.6% after -7.6%), especially in other transport equipment (+7.3% after -11.5%) and, to a lesser extent, in automobiles (+3.4% after -1.9%).
Meanwhile, the S&P Global composite PMI index of overall activity in France rose from 51.7 in February to 52.7 in March, signalling a second consecutive month of growth in the private sector, reaching a ten-month high.

The same trend can be seen in the Eurozone, where the S&P Global composite PMI index for overall activity rose from 52 in February to 53.7 in March, indicating continued growth in Eurozone activity and signaling a ten-month high.
Growth in the "services" sector improved by +2pts to 55, and even reached 59 in Spain.
A small downside to this string of positive surprises: growth in the private sector in France fell back to 52.7 from 54 in March, according to the monthly S&P survey.

As for the US economy, the US private sector created just 145,000 jobs in March, well below expectations, according to the monthly survey published on Wednesday by ADP, a specialist in human resources management outsourcing.

Job creation over the past month therefore slowed significantly compared to the previous month's 261,000, a number revised slightly upwards from an initial estimate of 242,000.000.
"The labor market is beginning to find its footing, as consumer demand slows and borrowing costs rise", comments ADP in its press release.

Another slightly worrying figure: the US trade deficit widened by +2.7% to -$70.5 billion in February, compared with the previous month's -$68.7 billion (which was revised from an initial estimate of $68.3 billion), according to the Commerce Department.

This surprise increase reflects a 2.7% contraction in exports of goods and services, to $251.2 billion, stronger than the 1.5% contraction in imports, to $321.7 billion
At the same time, the JOLTS survey showed that job vacancies in the US fell below 10 million in February (-600.000), to their lowest level since May 2021, suggesting a slowdown in the labor market.

As a result, risk aversion once again took the upper hand among investors, to the detriment of equities (the sector rotation movement favored the more defensive stocks on the stock exchange), against a backdrop of recession fears and a rise in the VIX, New York's famous 'fear barometer'.
In other words, this is an ultra-classic configuration that arises when fears of a recession intensify", Danske Bank analysts pointed out this morning.
The bond markets are symmetrically regaining some color, with yields down -5pts on our OATs to 2.73% and Bunds to 2.215%.
US T-Bonds were more stable, with yields down just -2Pts to 3.316%.

In other French company news, TotalEnergies announced an agreement with the Iraqi government, confirming all the terms of the Development & Production Contract signed in 2021 and jointly defining the conditions and mutual assurances required to move forward on the GGIP project.

IT services giant Capgemini reports that it has been selected to coordinate the next-generation IoT (Internet of Things) project as part of the European Commission's Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative.

Sodexo reported a 30.6% increase in net income to 440 million euros for the first half of 2023, and a 30.9% increase in operating income to 704 million (+22.5% at constant exchange rates), for an improved margin of 60 basis points to 5.8%.

Finally, on Wednesday, Orange announced its intention to issue a new tranche of hybrid bonds, and to launch at the same time a buyback offer for its existing hybrid bonds.

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