The CAC40 (+0.35%) reissued its previous day's record high of 7,559Pts to within a point (with 1/2H remaining to beat it), while the E-Stoxx50 (+0.1%) also moved into record territory at 4,395Pts.395Pts.
The April trading term, which expires in 48 hours, is shaping up to be a hot one, with +9% on the CAC and +8% on the E-Stoxx50 (since March 18).

On Wall Street, initial losses are being reduced (-0.2% on the Dow Jones and S&P500).
Few figures on the menu this April 19: at 11:30 a.m., traders discovered the publication of the final Eurostat consumer price index data for the eurozone for March: the annual inflation rate for the eurozone stood at 6.9% in March 2023, compared with 8.5% in February, and that of the European Union at 8.3%, compared with 9.9% (confirmation of the flash estimate for the eurozone in March).

The lowest annual rates were observed in Luxembourg (2.9%), Spain (3.1%) and the Netherlands (4.5%), while the highest were recorded in Hungary (25.6%), Latvia (17.2%) and the Czech Republic (16.5%).

In the eurozone, the biggest contributions to annual inflation came from food, alcohol and tobacco (+3.12 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+2.10 pp), industrial goods excluding energy (+1.71 pp) and energy (-0.05 pp).

While inflation in the region probably peaked last autumn, the disinflation process looks set to be slow, and high food prices could have a negative impact on consumption.

Oil is down -2%: it was already down before the data published by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA): crude oil inventories reached 466 million barrels in the week to April 10 in the USA, down 4.6 million barrels on the previous week.

Inventories of distillates - including heating oil - fell by 0.4 million barrels, while gasoline stocks rose by 1.3 million barrels, again compared with the previous week.

The EIA reports that refineries operated at 91% of capacity during the same week, with average production of 9.5 million barrels/day.

Global markets still don't seem to be alarmed by the prospect of recession: the VIX is back in the 17 zone on Wall Street, while a slowdown in US activity is expected to materialize before the end of the year, an unattractive prospect for equities.

In this respect, the season of quarterly corporate results which began last week promises to be tough for investors who would like to be reassured by the forecasts of listed companies.

On the bond front, our OATs added +4pts to 3.006% (+50pts in 3 weeks), Bunds +3.5pts to 2.5050% and US T-Bonds +5pts to 3.625%.

In French company news, Bolloré confirms that its Board of Directors, meeting on Tuesday, has approved the launch of a simplified public tender offer (OPAS) for its own shares, as announced on March 14.

Worldline and Crédit Agricole announce the signature of a non-binding agreement for exclusive negotiations with a view to a strategic partnership that would 'create a major player in services for retailers in France'.

Alstom announces that it has been chosen by the Eurométropole de Strasbourg and the CTS to supply the new tramcars for the Strasbourg network, under an eight-year framework agreement worth a maximum of 250 million euros.

Finally, according to Bloomberg, Veolia would like to sell Sade, its French subsidiary specializing in the design, construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of water networks and facilities.

Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.