The Paris Bourse limited its losses to 0.7%, with the CAC40 down 0.6% at 7,525.

The Euro-Stoxx50 fared a little better, down 0.6% at 4,375 (Frankfurt was even stable), but the trend has also been bearish since this morning.
The clear easing of interest rates (OAT down 11pts to 2.945%, Bunds down 12pts to 2.3730) did not change anything.

Indexes were penalized in particular by the decline in banking stocks such as Société Générale (-3.4%), BNP Paribas (-2.2%) and Crédit Agricole (-1.5%), while the Governor of the Banque de France yesterday predicted two more minimum rate hikes in Europe, while the last is expected in the USA on May 3.

On Wall Street, indices reopened lower, with the Dow Jones losing -0.2%, the S&P500 -0.7%, and the Nasdaq -1%... despite rates easing significantly: -10.5Pts on T-Bonds at 3.4070%.
Today's US figures were a little unexpected: the US Commerce Department announced a 9.6% jump in new home sales in March (to 683,000 transactions on an annualized basis), well above market consensus (after -3.9% in February).

In contrast to this upturn in real estate, consumer confidence in the United States deteriorated sharply in April, to 101.3 this month, compared with 104 in March (monthly survey published Tuesday by the Conference Board).
While the consumer assessment of the current situation improved to 151.1 in April from 148.9 last month, the consumer expectations sub-index fell to 68.1 from 74 the previous month.

With the exception of December 2022, a month in which it briefly rebounded, this latter indicator is now below the 80-point threshold for the 14th consecutive month, a phenomenon that generally heralds a recession in the coming year, ConfBoard points out in its press release.

Investors are cautious as several European stock market giants, including ABB, Nestlé, Novartis, Santander and UBS, are due to publish their results today.
Across the Atlantic, 3M (6,000 redundancies), GE ($40 billion in sales), GM, McDonald's and UPS presented their quarterly results before the opening of Wall Street.

After the close, Alphabet and Microsoft's eagerly awaited publications will set the tone for trading.

In the news from French companies, the M6 group reports current operating income (EBITA) of €59.5 million for the first quarter of 2023, down 1.8 points to 19%, on sales down 3% to €312.9 million "in a deteriorated economic context".

Alstom reports that it has won a contract from Quebec City, Canada, to supply 34 Citadis tramways, worth a total of around 900 million euros (or 1.34 billion Canadian dollars).

Finally, Voltalia announces the commissioning of its Sud Vannier wind farm: with a capacity of 23.6 megawatts, this is its first wind farm in the Grand Est region and its third in the northeast quarter of France, after those in Sarry and Molinons.


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