After spending most of the morning in slight decline, the Paris stock exchange regained ground around midday, edging up as much as +0.3% in the afternoon. At the closing bell, however, the Paris index ended the session with a more modest gain of +0.1%, at 8,112 points, supported by Publicis (+1.4%), Veolia (+1.05%), and Michelin (+1%), all amid thin trading volumes typical of this year-end period (just 2.3 billion euros exchanged during the session).

Across the Atlantic, the mood was even gloomier, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 down -0.5%, and the Nasdaq losing -0.65%, slipping further in the wake of semiconductors (-2%) and Tesla (-2.7%).
This period of calm between the end-of-year holidays naturally gives market professionals time to review the year that is ending and to consider prospects for the one ahead.

"Resilient macroeconomic conditions, earnings growth thanks to AI, and accommodative monetary policy have generated double-digit returns in developed markets," Swiss Life Asset Managers summarized a few days ago.
The institution more broadly pointed out "solid global equity gains in 2025 despite volatility," even though "trade tensions and geopolitical risks triggered intermittent corrections" during the year.

As the new year approaches, the week looks set to remain quiet, with macroeconomic data scarce until Friday and the release of manufacturing PMI indices in Europe and the United States.

On the international front, the much-anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, made headlines. Despite the usual self-congratulation from the U.S. side ("95% of the work is done"), no concrete progress toward a ceasefire was announced.

The Ukrainian president merely stated that the United States had offered Kiev so-called "solid" security guarantees for fifteen years, with the possibility of extension. Ukraine would seek to prolong these guarantees as much as possible, with Zelensky mentioning "the possibility of thirty, forty, or even fifty years."

While stock indices enter their seventh week of stagnation, the atmosphere is entirely different in the precious metals market, with record volatility in silver—up +8.5% on Friday, then an additional +4% between midnight and 1 a.m. in Asia, before a record drop of -15% straight down from 84 USD to 71.3 USD within half a day. Gold also lost -4.5% to 4,315 USD, with intraday swings never before seen this year.

These fluctuations are linked to the latest increase in margin calls on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) for futures contracts—the second in two weeks—which forced the most exposed operators to reduce their positions.

In the bond market, there was a bright spot in the eurozone, with Bunds dropping -3.5 basis points to 2.832%, French OATs down -3.7 points at 3.531%, and Italian BTPs -4.3 points at 3.471%.
Movements were more subdued across the Atlantic, with T-Bonds easing -0.7 points on the 10-year to 4.124%, and the 2-year down -1.3 points at 3.47%. On the FOREX, the euro is trading at 1.176 USD.

In corporate news, Alstom has signed a contract to supply 47 DMU passenger trains to Mexico, including 33 long-distance and 14 suburban trains, a deal valued at around 150 million euros. The group had already secured a previous contract worth 920 million euros.

Atos Group has reached a binding agreement to sell its South American operations to Semantix, currently employing around 2,800 professionals in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and Peru.

Thales has signed a major contract with Defence Equipment and Support (DES) for the design, development, and delivery of the next generation of portable autonomous command centers. This initial contract, worth 10 million pounds sterling, marks the first stage of a program that could reach 100 million GBP to provide next-generation mine countermeasure capabilities to the Royal Navy.

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Copyright (c) 2025 Zonebourse.com - All rights reserved.