With futures up 14 points towards 8124, the Paris CAC 40 is set to kick off this "trêve des confiseurs" (holiday lull) week in good spirits, despite the absence of many traders and a news cycle that promises to be subdued.
This period of calm between the year-end holidays naturally gives market professionals time to take stock of the year drawing to a close and to consider prospects for the one ahead.
"Resilient macroeconomic conditions, earnings growth driven by AI, and accommodative monetary policy have delivered double-digit returns in developed markets," Swiss Life Asset Managers summarized a few days ago.
SLAM more broadly highlighted "solid global equity gains in 2025 despite volatility," even though "trade tensions and geopolitical risks triggered intermittent corrections" during the year.
At this stage, the CAC 40 shows a gain of around 9.8% since January 1, underperforming the pan-European STOXX Europe 600 index (up about 16%) as well as the benchmark U.S. S&P 500 index (up 17.8%).
According to SLAM, "2026 should be the fourth consecutive year of solid returns." "Strong monetary and fiscal support and resilient GDP and earnings growth explain the 6% to 12% target for global equities," the firm noted.
While awaiting the new year, this week is expected to remain especially quiet, with macroeconomic data in short supply—at least until Friday, when PMI indices for the manufacturing sector in Europe and the United States will be released.
In corporate news, Alstom has signed a contract to supply 47 DMU passenger trains to Mexico, including 33 long-distance trains and 14 commuter trains, in a deal valued at approximately €920 million.
Atos Group has reached a binding agreement to sell its South American operations, currently employing about 2,800 professionals in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and Peru, to Semantix.
Alstom is one of the world leading manufacturers of infrastructures for rail transport sector. Net sales break down by family of products and services as follows:
- rolling stocks (51.1%): trains, tramways and locomotives;
- railway services (24.3%): maintenance, modernization, management of spare parts, support and technical assistance services;
- signaling, information and control systems (14.3%);
- railway infrastructures (10.3%): infrastructures for the track laying, lines electrical power systems, electromechanical equipment, telecommunication devices and traveler information in station, terminals for automatic purchase of tickets, access to escalators, lifts for disabled, automatic landing doors on platforms, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (17.1%), Europe (39.6%), Americas (19.8%), Asia/Pacific (14.5%) and Middle East/Africa/Central Asia (9%).
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