The Paris stock market ended the final session of the week down 1.17%, at 7338 pts, heavily penalized by the downturn in the luxury goods sector, with Kering down 8%, Hermès down 4.1% and LVMH down 3.3%.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Wall Street set a new string of all-time records, with the Dow Jones up 0.7% at 44,045 pts and the S&P500 up 0.4% at 5,996 pts.

The Nasdaq (stable at around 19,260 pts) is now just 0.1% off its previous day's high of 19.300 of the previous day (with an average PER of 46.85, shattering the limits of the known and, above all, the 38.6 of the dot.com bubble or the 34.2 of late October 2007: it is posting a performance differential of +7% over the week compared with the E-Stoxx50.

Over the past week, the CAC40 also posted a decline of close to 1%, and -2.7% since January 1, compared with +28% for the Nasdaq, i.e. a record differential of 30%!

As expected, the Fed last night cut its main key interest rate by a quarter point, its second cut in less than two months, while refraining from providing too many clues as to its intentions for the coming months.

However, its members decided unanimously to cut the main key rate, citing tame inflation tending towards 2% and the need to prevent the risks of a slowdown in growth, even if it is admittedly "progressing at a sustained pace".

Michael Brown, strategist at Pepperstone, commented: "My basic scenario remains that the committee will continue to cut rates by 25 basis points at the end of the next few meetings, until a neutral rate of around 3% is reached next summer".

From the analysts' point of view, Wall Street's favorable momentum should continue, particularly with the prospect of more favorable tax treatment for US companies.

In our view, Trump's second term will be marked by lower corporate taxes, deregulation of the technology sector, the introduction of tariffs designed to stimulate the US industrial sector and relocation, and policies to support crypto-currencies', stresses Yan Taw Boon, manager at Neuberger Berman.

Jerome Powell, in the course of a question, put an end to the suspense that had lasted since Wednesday morning: 'I won't resign if Donald Trump asks me to' and the boss intends to see out his term (which expires in January 2026).

With Donald Trump having expressed his intention of imposing lighter, more flexible regulations on the sector, Bitcoin set a new record above $76,000 last night, and some already see it reaching the $100,000 mark in the near future.

The fact that the S&P 500, the benchmark index for American managers, is in contact with the 6.000 points should also encourage investors to consider a new short-term bullish push (despite +45% without any real correction in 12 months and one week).

On the other hand, the day was rather quiet in terms of indicators: no detectable reaction either in equities or in T-Bonds when the Michigan consumer confidence index was published.

Its index of confidence rose for the fourth month in a row, reaching 73 this month compared with 70.5 in October, whereas economists were expecting only 71.

On the bond front, US 10-year T-Bonds eased 5.5pts to 4.28%, while German Bunds of the same maturity eased -8pts to 2.36%.

In London, Brent crude oil fell -2.5% to $73.6, down -2.7%, while the euro shed 0.7% against the greenback, to $1.072/E, spot -0.6% hebdo.

In other tricolor company news, Lacroix posted cumulative sales of 494.2 million euros for the first nine months of the year, representing a decline of 10% at consolidated level (including the signaling segment over four months in 2024) and 6.3% on a like-for-like basis.

Alstom announced the commissioning of a new signaling system in South London to improve the reliability of journeys to and from Victoria station.

Finally, NRJ Group last night reported sales (excluding barters) up 1.4% to €282.6 million for the first nine months of 2024, but down 3.6% to €91.1 million in the third quarter alone.

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