The month of December is off to a strong start, with gains of around +0.45% since 10:00 this morning.
The Paris stock market has gained nearly 0.6% for the week, which will be its 5th consecutive rise since October 26.
The CAC40 is being driven towards 7,345/7,350 by Worldline (+5%) and Essilor (+2%)... but volumes remain poor, with barely 1.1 billion euros in 7 hours of trading (and even the day before, when volumes would have exploded to 7 billion euros, only 1.5 billion euros were traded at the same time).
Europe remains in good shape, with the E-Stoxx50 at +0.5%, outperforming the US indices, with the Nasdaq virtually stagnant and the S&P500 up +0.1%, its 19th session out of 24... with the Dow Jones gaining +0.25%.

Investors are clearly keen to continue the positive momentum now well established on the markets.

The trend is still benefiting from the spectacular moderation in inflation, which daily reinforces hopes of further rate cuts by the major central banks.

Although the CAC has just closed its best month of the year, many analysts are stressing that the worst-case scenario has now been ruled out, which augurs a new upward sequence for the equity markets.

December is traditionally a buoyant month for the stock markets, with year-end balance sheet adjustments seeing managers sell underperforming stocks in favor of winners to make their portfolios more attractive.

On the figures front, this morning investors took note of the HCOB PMI index for eurozone manufacturing industry, produced by S&P Global. The index rose from 43.1 in October to 44.2 in November, its highest level since last May, but still points to a sharp contraction in the sector.

The data once again highlight declines in activity, new orders, purchasing volumes and inventories, but the outlook for activity has improved. At the same time, purchase prices fell sharply again.

On the bond market, 10-year T-Bonds eased to 4.305%, German Bunds of the same maturity fell by 6pts to 2.39%, and French OATs eased by 7pts to 2.9500%.

In currencies, the euro remained stable against the dollar, still at $1.09/euro.

In the energy market, Brent crude failed to benefit from yesterday's announcement of a production cut by the OPEC+ countries, falling by 1.8% to $81.5/barrel.

In other French company news, Pierre & Vacances reported net income of -20.6 million euros for fiscal 2023, compared with +325 million the previous year, but adjusted EBITDA of 137.1 million, up 74% on fiscal 2019 (pre-Covid reference).

TotalEnergies announced on Friday that it had signed an agreement with the British group Prax to sell its minority stake in a refinery in South Africa.

Thales reports that it has signed an agreement to insure its entire pension scheme in the UK, a decision that will result in the recognition of a financial expense.

Finally, noting the opening of insolvency proceedings in respect of several entities in the Signa group, Peugeot Invest reports that its exposure to this group represents 2.9% of revalued gross assets, which stood at 6.4 billion euros at the end of June.

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