The Paris stock market ended the session with a gain of 1.47%, at 6,860 points. The Paris index started the year on a high note, posting an impressive weekly gain of 5.3%.

Across the Atlantic, Wall Street was also in the green, with all three indices - S&P500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones - up by around 1.6%. While the monthly employment figures released this morning did not call into question the prospect of further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, they did allay fears of a marked slowdown in the economy.

The US economy created more jobs than expected last month (+223,000 non-farm jobs), but the figures for the previous two months were revised downwards, by -21,000 for October and -7,000 for November, giving a total revision balance of -28,000 for these two months.000 for these two months.

Average hourly earnings rose by only 0.3%, against expectations of +0.4%, and the unemployment rate fell by a further 0.1 points to 3.5%, a sign of the robustness of the job market.

In addition, activity in the US services sector (ISM) fell well short of expectations in December, dropping from 56.5 to 49.6, when economists were expecting a much less pronounced decline, to around 55.

This is the first time since May 2020 - the date of the first US confinements - that the index has fallen below the 50-point mark, indicating a contraction in activity.

Also of note was the surprise decline (-1.8%) in US industrial orders in November, according to figures published today by the Commerce Department.


In Europe, seasonally-adjusted retail sales volumes rose by 0.8% in the eurozone in November, and by 0.9% in the EU, compared with October 2022, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In October 2022, the volume of retail trade had fallen by 1.5% in the eurozone and 1.4% in the EU.

Finally, inflation in the eurozone slowed more sharply than expected in December, mainly due to the loss of momentum in energy prices.

Consumer prices rose by 9.2% year-on-year last month in the countries sharing the single currency, following a 10.1% rise in November, according to a first estimate published Friday by Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office.

By way of comparison, economists were expecting a slightly less pronounced slowdown, to around 9.5%.


Against this backdrop, European government bond yields have eased sharply since 4 p.m.: the 10-year German Bund is down -110pts to 2.1980%, the OAT is down -12pts to 2.7020%, and Italian BTPs are down -15pts to 4.18%.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude rebounds +1.4% to $80 (WTI grabs +1.4% to $74.9), but is down more than 7% on the week, partly due to fears about the health of Chinese industry.

In company news, Getlink reports that its Eurotunnel Le Shuttle passenger shuttle service under the English Channel has carried more than 100.000 passenger vehicles between Folkestone and Coquelles over the end-of-year vacation period.

Stellantis has announced the creation of Mobilisights, a business unit entirely dedicated to the growth of DaaS (Data as a Service) activities and the development and licensed distribution of B2B products, applications and services.

Engie has successfully completed a three-tranche green bond issue for a total amount of 2.75 billion euros.

Finally, TotalEnergies announced on Friday that it would be helping very small businesses (VSEs) with electricity contracts to cope with the energy crisis.

In view of the recent fall in electricity prices, the group reports that it has updated its tariff schedule on the basis of a price reduced to 320 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).


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