The Paris Bourse (-1.3% to 7,216) reversed course mid-morning: just as a 21st week of gains was taking shape, when the CAC40 was soaring above 7,360pts (+20.2% weekly), sellers took over before lunchtime.
They accelerated their sell-off in the light of stronger-than-expected inflation figures, with "headline" price rises of +5.4% (a clear rebound on December) and "core" inflation (excluding food and energy) coming in at 4.7%, versus the 4.3% expected after 4.6% in December.
The CAC40 quickly lost as much as -1% and then -1.3% (i.e. -150pts from the day's highs), pushing the weekly performance into the red (-0.8%), with the annual performance down from 13.5% this morning to 12.4%.

And it will be bright red for Wall Street, which reopens down -1.5% and is set to lose -2.5% to -3% over this shortened week (4 sessions).

US household income and spending figures are full of surprises: consumer spending rebounded by 1.8% in January compared with the previous month.
The Commerce Department reports that household income, on the other hand, rose by only 0.6%, below the market consensus: the fall in the savings rate is accompanied by an increase in indebtedness, with outstanding credit cards approaching $1,000 billion (an all-time record).

In France, household confidence was virtually unchanged in February 2023: at 82, the Insee synthetic indicator lost one point and remains well below its long-term average (100 between January 1987 and December 2022).

Note the rebound in bond market yields on the back of better-than-expected inflation figures: 10-year Treasuries rebounded from 3.88% to 3.946% (versus 3.96% at the start of the week), their highest level since last November.
In Europe, it's a "saloon door" sequence for our OATs, which had eased considerably on Thursday and now see their yields jump +10pts to 3.055% (the highest for the year), Bunds take +9pts to 2.564%, Italian BTPs +11.5pts to 4.485%... after hovering around 4.500%.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar continues its recovery, gaining a further 0.55% against the euro, in the 1.0540 zone (+1% hebdo).

In company news, Saint-Gobain (+3.8%) announced last night sales of 51,197 million euros, up 15.9% in 2022. Net income from recurring operations reached a new record of 3,335 million euros (+18%).

Valeo (-10%) also reported last night sales of 20,037 million euros for 2022, up 16%. Net income (Group share) came to ME230, up 31% on the previous year (ME175).

Fnac Darty (-9%) reported 2022 sales of ME7,949, down 1.9% on 2021 on a like-for-like basis. At the same time, the Group's operating income before non-recurring items fell from 270 to 230 ME (-14.8%), while consolidated net income (Group share) was -28ME in 2022, compared with 160ME a year earlier.

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