The Paris stock market ended the last session of the week at equilibrium, at 7592 pts (+0.05%), with the good momentum of the automotive sector (+2.6% for Renault, +2.3% for Stellantis) being offset by Dassault Systèmes, which continued its decline (-2.6% today after -10.3% yesterday), and Sanofi (-2.2%).
Over the past week, the Paris index has lost almost 0.5%.

In the early afternoon, the markets were surprised by the US employment figures: the US economy generated some 353,000 non-farm jobs in January, according to the Labor Department, a number well above market expectations, such as those of Jefferies, which was expecting only 225,000.

The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7% of the labor force (compared with a rise to 3.9% anticipated by Jefferies), as did the labor force participation rate at 62.5%, and average hourly earnings rose at an annual rate of 4.5%.

The scenario of a soft landing for the economy, evoked this very week by the Federal Reserve, has therefore been totally thwarted.

And that's not all: US consumer sentiment rose sharply from 69.7 in December to 79 in January, its highest level since July 2021, according to the final figures from the University of Michigan survey published on Friday

This month-on-month increase of over 13% has only been surpassed five times since 1978, says Joanne Hsu, the report's author, who points to an improvement in confidence linked not only to consumers' personal financial situation, but also to the economic situation in general.
The current conditions component rose to 81.9 from 73.3 the previous month, while the expectations component climbed to 77.1 from 67.4 in December.

As in the preliminary version, one-year inflation expectations were confirmed at +2.9%, the lowest since the end of 2020.

This triggered a sharp rise in bond yields in the USA, with 10-year T-Bonds reaching 4.04% (+18 pts), while German Bunds of the same maturity stagnated at around 2.23%.
Supported by a sharp rise in its yield, the dollar climbed +0.7% against the euro, to around $1.07/euro.

On the statistics front, in France, manufacturing output rose between November and December (+1.2% after +0.2%) and in industry as a whole (+1.1% after +0.5%), according to INSEE's seasonally and working-day adjusted data.

Brent crude is down nearly 2.3%, at around $77 a barrel.
In company news, Bonduelle reported last night sales of €1,213m for the 1st half of 2023/24 (July-December 23), up +4.5% on a like-for-like basis (constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation) and down -2.4% on a reported basis.

Vinci announces that Swedish energy group Vattenfall has awarded its subsidiary Nuvia a major six-year contract to dismantle units 1 and 2 of the Ringhals nuclear power plant in Sweden.

Publicis announces that a settlement has been reached with the U.S. Attorneys General regarding the work carried out by former advertising agency Rosetta on behalf of opioid manufacturers, bringing to a close three years of discussions.

Saint-Gobain announces that it has finalized the acquisition of International Cellulose Corporation (ICC), a specialist in technical insulation in the United States, including spray-finishing systems with thermal, fire and acoustic properties for non-residential applications.

Finally, Peugeot takes the lead in the PC + LCV market in France in January, with a market share of 16.8%, and a 15.6% increase in sales volumes, in a market up 8.6%.


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