he Paris stock market is down to 0.1% at 7,275, while the CAC40 erased Tuesday's losses and gained up to 0.6% at 7,325 points, driven in particular by Stellantis (+3.5%) and by the rebound of LVMH, Hermès and especially Kering, which each gained around 2%.
On Wall Street, March began with a further Dow Jones consolidation of -0.2%, while the S&P500 lost over 0.5%.
The luxury goods sector is benefiting from good news from China, where manufacturing activity expanded in February for the second month in a row.
The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector stood at 52.6 last month, compared with 50.1 in January, the State Bureau of Statistics (BES) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Also according to the BES, factory output returned to normal at a faster-than-expected pace last month, indicating a continued improvement in the economic climate.
In France, on the other hand, the manufacturing sector contracted, with the overall S&P PMI falling from 50.5 in January to 47.4 in February.
The index was dragged down by new orders, whose contraction accelerated for the first time since October 2022. This deterioration was reflected in production levels, which fell for the ninth consecutive month.

In the United States, manufacturing activity continued to contract in February (to 47.7 last month, from 47.4), but the deceleration was slightly less marked than in January, according to the monthly ISM survey published on Wednesday.
The prices paid sub-index, which is closely watched at a time of rising inflation, jumped to 51.3 from 44.5 the previous month.
The new orders sub-index also climbed to 47, compared with 42.5 in February.

The US manufacturing PMI gives a slightly different reading, with the S&P Global PMI finally coming in at 47.3, compared with a flash estimate of 47.8 and 46.9 the previous month.

The surveyors note that the drop in new sales led to a further fall in production, albeit at a slower pace, against a backdrop of better supply chain conditions.

Today's set of statistics is expected to fuel the debate on rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the ECB, with the dollar and bond yields rising as a result.

On the bond market, long-term European yields are back on the rise, hitting new multi-year highs.

The yield on the 10-year German Bund, Europe's benchmark, has jumped +8pts to 2.714%.
Our OATs set a new ceiling of almost 3.2% (tested during the session) with +8.3Pts to 3.194%

Across the Atlantic, the yield on 10-year Treasuries rebounded from 3.91% to 3.99%, after peaking at over 3.97% yesterday, as the latest US indicators reinforced the prospect of a recession, and hence a pause in the Fed's rate hike cycle.

If the US economy starts to weaken, this should reduce the pressure on bond yields and weaken the US dollar", reminds Steven Bell, Chief Economist at Columbia Threadneedle.

The dollar nevertheless suffered a heavy pullback of -0.6% towards 1.0655/E.


In company news, Eurofins Scientific (-13%) reports adjusted net profit for 2022 down 35% to 683 million euros, or 3.43 euros per share, and adjusted EBITDA down 20% to 1.51 billion, representing a margin down 5.8 points to 22.5%.

Atos (+6%) reported a net loss attributable to the Group of 1.01 billion euros for 2022, down from 2.96 billion euros the previous year, but an operating margin down 0.4 points to 3.1% of sales.

For the past year, Neoen reported a 19% increase in adjusted net income to 48 million euros, and a 38% increase in adjusted EBITDA to 414 million, "in line with the announced target".

By 2030, Neoen (-14%) plans to reach a target capacity in operation or under construction of over 20 GW. It also reiterates its ambition to achieve a rate of new project wins of at least 2 GW per year from 2025 onwards.

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