Indifferent to the deluge of records on Wall Street, the Paris Bourse lost -0.24% to 7647 points, despite Hermès' +4.8% gain, penalized in particular by L'Oréal (-7.6%) and BNP Paribas (-2%).

The Parisian index nevertheless managed a timid 0.7% gain over the past week.
Paris's underperformance is clear to see, while across the Atlantic, the three main US indices set new all-time highs.

The week just ended highlighted the major disparities in global growth, with the US economy showing insolent health, far ahead of Europe and China, which are tending, at best, to stagnate.

It's not even certain that the FED will 'pivot' next May if the labour market remains at its zenith (with wage rises in sight) and if inflation resurfaces, after having eased at the end of 2023, thanks to very positive 'base effects'.

Macroeconomic conditions should have a greater influence on markets next week, with the latest inflation figures in the USA, followed by fourth-quarter growth figures in the eurozone.

Meanwhile, equity markets continue to ignore tensions on the interest-rate market, with the most optimistic seeing them as proof of the robustness of the US economy.

T-Bond yields continue to soar, with yields reaching 4.20% on 10-years (+4pts), the highest since the start of the year. In Germany, the Bund for the same maturity is approaching 2.385% (+2.5pts).
Brent crude oil is stable at around $81.6 a barrel, while the euro remains stable against the greenback, at $1.077/E.

In news from French companies, Hermès International this morning reported a 28% increase in net income (Group share) to 4.31 billion euros for 2023, as well as a 20% increase in operating income before non-recurring items to 5.65 billion, giving a record margin of 42.1% compared with 40.5% in 2022.

Assystem reports sales growth of 17% to 577.5 million euros for 2023, of which 14.6% is organic. Excluding the Pacific activities sold in December 2023, sales amounted to 563.7 million (against an annual target of around 570 million).

Casino reports that, in accordance with the memorandum of intent signed on January 24, Carrefour has replaced Groupement Les Mousquetaires for the acquisition of certain Casino hypermarkets and supermarkets initially to be acquired by the latter.

Canal+, a subsidiary of the Vivendi group, announced on Friday that it had strengthened its position as the main shareholder in Viaplay (from 12% to 29.3%) following the finalization of the recapitalization plan for the Swedish video streaming group.

Finally, Guerbet posted annual sales of 785.7 million euros, up 4.3% on a reported basis. At constant exchange rates and excluding Intrasense, consolidated since January 1, organic growth came to 5.9%.


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