The CAC40 (+0.5%) not only posted a 5/5 rise this week, but also 6 consecutive sessions of gains.
At around 11:05 am, the CAC stood at 8,257pts, a new all-time high (8,253 points): the all-time closing high of March 28 (8.206) has a 99% chance of being beaten this evening, as the index is still gravitating towards 8,225, while Wall Street - up a very even +0.4% at around 4.10pm - is now moving in dispersed order, with the Nasdaq now negative by -0.1%, the S&P500 at +0.1% and the Dow Jones at +0.2% (it feels like reliving the soporific sessions of Tuesday and Wednesday).

The S&P500 no longer seems in a position to beat its record high of 5,254 this Friday, while "absolute highs" have been raining down in Europe over the past 10 days: first it was the London Stock Exchange with the FT-100, then Amsterdam last Friday (the AEX set a fantastic series of 6 records in consecutive sessions), then Frankfurt (the DAX set a 3rd record, crossing the 18.800) and now the Paris index has passed the 8,253 mark at around 11 a.m... which should enable the Euro-Stoxx50 (+0.7%) to beat its closing record of 03/28 (5,084pts).
But everywhere, the observation is the same: markets are rising in a vacuum... but in the absence of any 'opposition'.

The CAC40 is up by almost 4% this week, with daily volumes of 2.3 billion euros: never before in its 36-year history has the CAC beaten a record with so little cumulative buying volume in one week... never.

There are no buyers (insignificant flows), but above all, there are no sellers: at this level of non-existence, it's also unprecedented.

As we come to the end of a week virtually devoid of any major releases, investors will be carefully studying the economic indicators for the next few days.

They will be looking for new clues as to the timing of the next rate cuts, both in the USA and Europe, and to assess the chances of a continued rally in equities.

This afternoon, investors discovered the US consumer confidence index drawn up by the University of Michigan.
US consumer sentiment fell by almost -10 points in May, to 67.4, its lowest level for six months, according to preliminary figures from the University of Michigan survey released on Friday (analysts were forecasting a much smaller decline, to around 76.2).

In detail, the current conditions component fell to 68.8 from 79 last month, while the expectations component stood at 66.5 after 76 in April.

US Treasury yields are nevertheless up +5.5pts to 4.502% for ten-year securities and 4.85% for the '2-year', also up +4.4pts.
In Europe, Bunds (2.52%) and OATs (3.0250%) are heavy with +2 basis points respectively.
Markets betting on a 25 basis point easing in European Central Bank (ECB) rates next month seem a little less sure of themselves.

Brent crude is down 0.3% at $83.8/barrel, while gold is up 2.6% at $2,370/ounce: this is the most striking market movement on Friday.

In French company news, Sanofi announces the conclusion of a co-exclusive licensing agreement with Novavax, for the co-marketing of a Covid-19 vaccine and the development of combined influenza-Covid-19 vaccines, as well as the acquisition of a minority stake of less than 5% in Novavax.

Viel & Cie posted consolidated sales growth of 3% (+5.2% at constant exchange rates) to 299 million euros for the first quarter of 2024, compared with the same period last year.

Lastly, Renault will today present the first running prototype of its hydrogen-powered Alpine Alpenglow Hy4 on the Spa Francorchamps circuit (Belgium).


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