The CAC40 stalled below 7,200 after having traded until around 4pm in a climate close to stock market euphoria, with a test of 7,200pts on the cards (the clearing of 7,150 resistance triggering a flurry of technical buying).
Wall Street's positive opening also helped, with +0.8% on the S&P500 and +1.1% on the Nasdaq (surge in semiconductor sales).

The CAC was driven upwards by STMicro (+5.5%), in the wake of Infineon (+6.5%), which announced an increase in its semiconductor sales forecasts.
Investors were relieved to note the absence of any new negative developments on the global financial system, and on French banks in the wake of large-scale searches for suspected tax fraud (at most, they risk a fine, which will only be imposed after lengthy legal proceedings).

On this subject, investors were able to take note of a slight decline in French household confidence in March 2023. Insee's synthetic indicator fell by one point to 81, well below its long-term average (100 between January 1987 and December 2022).

Households' balance of opinion on their past and future financial situation remained stable, as did the balance of opinion on the advisability of making major purchases. All three remain well below their long-period averages.

Bond markets are relatively calm, with token spreads of +0.5 to +1.5 basis points: quasi-stability.

One of the elements to watch over the coming days will be inflation trends, in Europe as in the United States.

With the downturn in energy prices, inflation in the eurozone - to be published on Friday - is expected to have eased in March, which should not totally reassure a very price-watchful ECB.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the PCE index - also to be published the day after tomorrow - is also expected to show a slowdown, but underlying inflation should persist, justifying the Fed's continued vigilance.

In news from French companies, Lacroix last night reported Group sales of €707.8m in 2022, up 41.1%, driven by the successful integration of Firstronic, which contributed €163.1m over the year. On a like-for-like basis, growth stood at 8.6%.
Atos (-17%) suffered the "loss of the day", following the abandonment of the planned partial takeover of its cybersecurity activities by Airbus, which reportedly failed to agree on a price for the sale of Evidian.
Airbus also announced the successful delivery of its first Airbus A321neo to the low-cost carrier HK Express, a member of the Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific group.

Trigano (+6%) also announced last night that its sales had grown by 13.2% to 827.2 ME in the second quarter 2022/2023, boosted by the rise in motorhome activity (+13.9% on a like-for-like basis).

For its part, NHOA reports net income of -52.2 million euros for 2022, versus -28.4 million the previous year, and EBITDA of -32.9 million versus -13.2 million, due to higher operating and personnel expenses

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