The Paris stock market is set to shatter its all-time highs, as the 'KHOLs' continue their irresistible ascent.
The CAC40 soared by almost 1.2% to set a new absolute record (very provisional) of 7,486 points, while the CAC40 'global return' broke the 22,000Pts barrier for the 1st time.000Pts, an increase of +16% since January 1, of which the 'KHOL' + Essilor (+2.2%) and Pernod-Ricard account for 75%.
The luxury goods sector now accounts for almost a third of the CAC40's capitalization - the most spectacular sectoral polarization of the 21st century, with +5% for LVMH (boosted by its results announced last night, the stock now 'weighs' over 14% of the CAC), +3.3% for Hermès and +2.8% for Kering, +2.5% for l'Oréal.

The CAC40 is on a near-historic upward solo run, with Frankfurt and Amsterdam gaining less than 0.1%, and outside the Eurozone, London gaining around +0.2%.
Wall Street slightly improved on its initial scores, with the S&P500 at +0.6% and the Nasdaq at +1.25%.

The US 'figures' are not even boosting the other Eurozone markets, even though they come as a pleasant surprise: US producer prices rose by just 2.75% year-on-year (and 3.6% excluding food), compared with +4.9% and +4.5% respectively in February: this is the 9th consecutive decline (after peaking at 11.7% in March 2022).
The Labor Department reports that PPI contracted by 0.5% in March compared with the previous month, but rose by 0.1% excluding food, energy and business services.
The US budget deficit jumps to $1,100 bn, with the SVB and Signature bank bailouts adding to federal spending.

US jobless claims rose by 11,000 in the week to April 3, to 239,000 from 228,000 the previous week.

The four-week moving average - considered to be a better indicator of the underlying trend in the job market - came to 240,000, up by 2,250 week-on-week.

Finally, the number of people receiving regular benefits fell by 13,000 to 1,810,000 in the week to March 27, the last week available for this statistic.

In Europe, inflation in Germany continued to contract (to +7.4% over 12 months).
Industrial production in the eurozone, seasonally adjusted, rose by 1.5% and 1.4% in the EU, according to Eurostat estimates, following increases of 1% and 0.4% respectively in January.
Compared with February 2022, industrial production rose by 2% in the eurozone and 2.1% in the EU, following annual rates of change of +0.9% in the eurozone and +1% in the EU observed in January.


Although inflation seems to have passed its peak, its decline is largely dependent on energy prices, on which rate hikes have little impact: it is likely to remain well above the 2% target for many months to come.

Another point of contention is that the monetary tightening underway is likely to push the US economy into recession in the second half of 2023, and limit the recovery expected in 2024.

PIMCO believes that the risks of an "earlier and more severe" recession have increased.
For the asset manager, the failure of certain banks, the increase in the cost of capital and the flight of deposits from the most fragile US banks all point to a marked tightening of credit conditions.

Against this backdrop, the yield on US ten-year Treasury bonds eased by -3pts to 3.39%.
On the European bond market, the positive trend this morning reverted to neutral: the yield on the French ten-year stabilized at 2.885% (+1pt) and its German equivalent tightened by +1pt to 2.3700%.
Some experts believe a +50Pt hike by the ECB is possible in May, but they are no longer in the majority.

On the currency markets, the dollar has just sunk below 1.10: -0.5% to 1.1050, its new annual low.
Some currency traders believe that the greenback is still overvalued, given that the interest rate differential between the two sides of the Atlantic is set to narrow.

The oil market is stabilizing after its surge of the last three weeks (+25% since March 17), but is holding on to the gains made on Wednesday following the announcement of an anecdotal rise in US crude inventories.

Brent crude is down 0.2% at $87 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is down 0.2% at $83.1.

On the crypto front, note the double crossing of symbolic thresholds: $30,000 for Bitcoin, $2,000 for Ethereum (+1% on these 2 digital assets).

In French company news, LVMH reports sales of 21,035 million euros for Q1 2023, up 17% organically on the same period a year earlier, with leather goods up +21%.

Christian Dior reported first-quarter 2023 sales of 21 billion euros, up 17% in both total and organic terms, "an excellent start to the year in a geopolitical and economic context that remains uncertain".

SES announced on Thursday the signature in Germany of several multi-year capacity agreements representing a total of over 75 million euros.

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