The Paris Bourse ended the day down an anecdotal 0.14%, at 7,538 points, driven by luxury goods stocks, which posted the day's biggest gains on the CAC, with +1.7% for L'Oréal, +1.6% for Hermès, +1.3% for LVMH and +0.7% for Kering.

On the other hand, automotive sector stocks brought up the rear with -8% for Renault, -5.3% for Stellantis and -4.3% for Michelin.

On the statistics front, it was a busy day. In the United States, the session was marked by the publication of the Philly Fed index.

Expected to rise slightly, the Philly Fed index fell from -23.2 in March to -31.3 this month - its lowest level since May 2020 -, registering its eighth consecutive contraction.

In the same negative dynamic, the index of leading indicators continued to decline in March, the Conference Board announced today, reinforcing the scenario of a recession in the months ahead.

This index, considered to be a precursor, fell for the 12th consecutive month, posting a further decline of 1.2% in March after its 0.5% drop in February. The decline was greater than consensus expectations, taking the index to its lowest level since November 2020.

Disappointingly, sales of existing homes in the US fell by 2.4% last month compared with February, to 4.44 million annualized and seasonally adjusted (SA), according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The median sales price fell by 0.9% year-on-year to $375,700, and the stock of unsold existing homes rose by 1% on the previous month to 980,000 at the end of March, representing 2.6 months of inventory at the current rate.

US jobless claims rose by 5,000 in the week to April 10, to 245,000 from 240,000 (revised from 239,000) the previous week.

The four-week moving average - considered a better indicator of the underlying trend in the job market - came in at 249,750, down anecdotally by 500 week-on-week.

Lastly, the number of people receiving regular benefits rose by 61,000 to 1,865,000 in the week of April 3, the last week available for this statistic.

In Europe, producer prices in Germany fell by 2.6% in March compared with February, bringing their year-on-year increase to 7.5%, announced Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office, on Thursday.

This figure marks a clear slowdown compared to February, which saw producer prices rise by 15.8% across the Rhine.

Destatis explains this deceleration by the turnaround in electricity and natural gas prices, which began at the beginning of 2023 but only really materialized in March due to a favorable base effect.
Economists were forecasting a much less pronounced slowdown in producer prices in March, with a consensus of 9.8% on an annual basis.

This morning, investors took note of a fall in business sentiment in France in April, for the second month running, according to the synthetic indicator calculated by Insee, which dropped one point to 102, but remains above its long-term average (100).

On the bond front, the day's figures reflect a mediocre outlook: yields erased the previous day's deterioration, with OATs down 5pts to 2.978%, Bunds down 4pts to 2.465%.... and T-Bonds by -7Pts to 3.5320%.

In French company news, Renault is down 8% despite a 30% increase in sales and a price rise: investors fear the effects of a price war launched by Tesla, with a 6th price cut in the United States announced on Wednesday evening. Tesla is adopting a volume logic and sacrificing its margins, which could cripple sales of the Megan E-Tech, sold at a higher price than the American company's first models.

Renault Group reports sales up 14.1% to 535.000 vehicles, with sales in Europe up 27.3% in a market up only 16.2%.

L'Oréal last night reported Group sales up 13.0% to 10.38 billion euros in Q1 2023 on a like-for-like basis (i.e. at identical structure and exchange rates).

Getlink reports first-quarter 2023 sales of €506.9 million, up 126%, including 23% growth on a like-for-like basis, confirming its confidence in its ability to exceed EBITDA of €910 million in 2023.

For the first quarter of 2023, Publicis posted net income of 3.08 billion euros, up 10% on a reported basis, including positive currency and scope effects, as well as organic growth of 7.1%.

Finally, Stellantis announced today that it is in the final stages of testing synthetic fuels (eFuels) on 28 engine families. The manufacturer's aim is to accelerate the potential reduction in carbon emissions from the 28 million Stellantis thermal vehicles manufactured in Europe since 2014 (Euro 6).

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