On the eve of the crucial "4 Witches" session, which concludes the 1st half of the year, the CAC40 accelerates its recovery and gains nearly 1.3% (towards 7,670), well helped by the rise of Capgemini and BNP Paribas (+2.5%) and luxury stocks (with +2.8% for Kering, +2.5% for Essilor and +2.3% for Hermès).
The Euro-Stoxx50 was not to be outdone, gaining +1.1% to 4,940pts.

Investors were also encouraged by new record highs on Wall Street (S&P500 +0.3% to 5,500pts), which was closed yesterday for Juneteenth, the day commemorating the abolition of slavery.

The new records set on Tuesday evening were merely a prelude to the continued rise of the US indices, and of the Nasdaq in particular (+0.4%, new zenith at 17,936), well on its way to its 8th closing record.
Ditto for the Nasdaq-100 (+0.4% at 19.980 and clearly aiming for a symbolic zenith of 20,000 on this eve of the "4 Witches") in the wake of Nvidia, which soared by a further +3.2% above $140 to consolidate its position as the world's leading capitalization at $3,425 billion, far ahead of Apple (down -0.5% at $3,290 billion) and Microsoft (down -0.9% at $3,300 billion).300Bn).
It's Nvidia "doing it all", once again, in line with the algorithmic logic imposed on the markets on the eve of a quarterly deadline.
The Dow Jones also posted a +0.4% rise to 38,950, leaving it 3% from its zenith of 40,077Pts.
In Europe, the market mover could have been the BoE, had it changed its tune: it didn't, and its decision to maintain rates was 100% expected, so no reaction.

The recent slowdown in inflation, which last month reached the 2% target set by the central bank, is nonetheless beginning to fuel speculation about a forthcoming rate cut.

The signals sent by the British economy are contradictory", stress analysts at Oddo BHF, who on the one hand point to "robust" growth and rising wages and service prices, but also to a rising unemployment rate and a job market "close to an inflection point".

A number of US statistics dominated the session, with the publication of the latest housing figures: housing starts were down by -5.5% to 1.277 million, compared with the consensus forecast of 1.37 million, after 1.35 million in April.
Building permits were also down, at an annual rate of 1.386 million in May in the US, after 1.44 million in April (the consensus forecast was for stability).
The Philly Fed index fell by 3 points to +1.3 this month.
The new orders sub-index remains negative but is improving, from -7.9 in May to -2.2 in June.

The employment sub-index improved from -7.5 to -2.5, while the prices paid sub-index rose by +4 points to 22.5.

According to the survey, more than 32% of companies surveyed said they expected business to increase over the next six months, 19% a decline and 47% stable.

Unemployment benefit registrations fell by -5,000 to 238,000, but this was slightly worse than expected - the consensus was for -8,000 to 235,000

On the bond market, the spread between the yield on the ten-year German Bund (2.44%) and that on its French equivalent with the same maturity (3.16%) contracted on Thursday by -3Pts to +73Pts, which remains a 'high' since the Greek crisis in early 2012.

The euro (-0.2%) is weakening again to around $1.0720, while oil is up +0.5%, with Brent crude rising to $85.9 in London.


In the news from French companies, Bic (-13%) suffers from the revision of its sales growth outlook for 2024, due to a difficult macroeconomic environment with, in particular, 'a moderate to high single-digit decline in the US lighter market (in value)'.

Dassault Systèmes announces that Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian manufacturer of automobiles and agricultural machinery, has opted for its cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform to accelerate the entire development process for its new products.

Technip Energies announces that it has won a 'significant' contract (between 50 and 250 million euros in sales, depending on its terminology) from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), which will be booked in Q2 2024 order intake.

Vivendi subsidiary Canal+ announced on Thursday that it had increased its stake in Asian streaming service Viu to 36.8%, in line with the agreement reached with Hong Kong's PCCW last year.


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