Over the week as a whole, the CAC 40 posted a gain of 0.46%, marking its second consecutive weekly rise—a first since January 9. The Parisian benchmark even hit an all-time intraday high of 8,437.35 points on Thursday.

Turning to Friday's session, it was marked by several corporate earnings releases that saw sharp swings. Safran finished, by far, at the top of the CAC 40, surging by 8.30% to reach a record high. The group unveiled excellent financial performance for 2025 and raised its ambitions for 2028.

Also among the top performers, Capgemini jumped 5.12% after handily beating expectations in the fourth quarter. Conversely, the CAC 40 was dragged down by L'Oréal, the index's third-largest market capitalization, which stumbled 4.93%. The world leader in cosmetics reported fourth-quarter sales slightly below expectations.

Other major European stock markets ended the session in positive territory. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 rose 0.20%; in London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.32%; and Amsterdam's exchange advanced 0.59%.

Much-Anticipated U.S. Inflation Data

The session was also shaped by January's U.S. inflation figures. The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.2% last month, compared to expectations of +0.3%, bringing the year-on-year increase to 2.4%, or 0.1 point less than forecast. Meanwhile, core inflation (excluding food and energy), also year-on-year, rose 2.5%, down from 2.6% a month earlier—its lowest level since March 2021.

Commenting on these inflation figures, Josh Jamner, senior investment strategy analyst at ClearBridge Investments (a Franklin Templeton subsidiary), noted: "A moderate inflation print for January buoyed risk assets this morning. However, lingering price pressures in the background should temper optimism over a third rate cut this year, which is now priced at about a 50% probability in Fed funds futures markets (2.5 cumulative cuts anticipated in 2026)."

Following the release of these statistics, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell back below 4.10%, its lowest point since early December.

Earlier in the week, investors had digested the monthly U.S. jobs report, which showed 165,000 jobs created in January—far above the 65,000 expected—with the unemployment rate dropping by 0.1 point to 4.3%. However, significant annual revisions were made. Thus, the total nonfarm change for 2025 was revised down from +584,000 to just +181,000 in seasonally adjusted data.

U.S. Tariffs Back in the Spotlight

Elsewhere in Friday's macroeconomic news, fourth-quarter eurozone GDP was confirmed at +1.3%, while the trade surplus in the 19-member euro area rose from 9.3 to 12.6 billion euros in December, ahead of the 11.8 billion dollars expected. However, compared to December 2024, the trade surplus contracted. This underperformance is linked to U.S. tariffs weighing on exports.

Moreover, regarding these tariffs, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that higher and frequently changing tariffs are likely to impact the U.S. economy through several channels. These policies will temporarily increase the inflation rate, reduce real investment, lower the level of real GDP, and reduce employment. Additionally, the CBO notes that currently 95% of the cost of these tariffs is borne domestically—mainly by U.S. importing companies and ultimately by American consumers.

The CBO is forecasting a budget deficit of 1,900 billion dollars for the United States this year, an 8% increase compared to its previous projections dated January 25. In response to this announcement, Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, tersely stated: "I trust the market rather than the CBO."

The rest of the week was also marked by turbulence in the tech sector, amid concerns over the upheaval caused by artificial intelligence, which is casting a shadow over certain jobs and business models.

In currency markets, the euro was flat against the greenback, trading at 1.1871 dollars.

Precious metals prices rebounded, with gold up 1.63% to 5,000 dollars per ounce, while silver rose 3.54% to 78.82 dollars.

Oil prices were little changed, with a barrel of North Sea Brent slipping just 0.01% to 67.51 dollars.