The Paris stock market is down from 0.1% to -0.2%, with the CAC40 trying to balance itself out around 7,625 points.
This slight downturn is taking place in anecdotal volumes (1 billion euros in nearly 7 hours of trading), despite the dynamic performance of the automotive sector, with +2.6% for Renault and +2% for Stellantis.
In reality, the CAC40 was weighed down by a single stock that accounted for 100% of the day's decline: Total-Energies is down -3.3%, despite a strong set of results and a 7% dividend increase.

Laura Corrieras - equity portfolio manager at Indosuez Wealth Management - warns that a number of uncertainties are likely to persist, particularly in the economic and geopolitical spheres.

Given the more cyclical nature of the European equity market, should macroeconomic indicators be weaker than anticipated, or the Goldilocks scenario called into question, the region could underperform other markets", she warns.

But it's too early to act on this scenario", adds the manager.

While earnings releases remain the focus of attention, investors will also be watching the day's economic indicators, in the hope that they will confirm the "soft landing" scenario.

Wall Street is expected to rise slightly (+0.3%), keeping up the suspense about the S&P500's imminent test of the '5,000': the 'VIX', the stress barometer associated with the S&P, is falling back into the 'complacent' zone below 13 (around 12.9): rarely have managers been so poorly covered on prices flirting with absolute records.
Several absolute records could fall in early trading on the 3 main US indices.

On the statistics front, the US trade deficit widened slightly to $62.2 billion in December 2023, compared with the previous month's $61.9 billion (which was revised from an initial estimate of $63.2 billion), according to the Commerce Department.

This 0.5% month-on-month increase in the deficit reflects a roughly parallel rise in U.S. imports of goods and services, up 1.3% to $320.4 billion, and exports, up 1.5% to $258.2 billion.

In Europe, German industrial production fell much more sharply than expected in December (-1.6%), according to official statistics published on Wednesday, confirming the current downturn in Europe's largest economy: this was its sixth consecutive month of decline.

On the bond market, US Treasury yields continued their decline of the previous day, while the timetable for future rate cuts remains highly uncertain.

The yield on Treasuries eased by a marginal -1 basis point to 4.082%, but benchmark yields in the eurozone moved in the opposite direction, with the German Bund posting +0.5 basis points to 2.284%, and the same for our OATs to 2.801%.

The oil market remains robust as we await the afternoon release of weekly US crude inventories. Brent crude is up 0.3% to $79 a barrel, while WTI is up 0.2% to $73.6 on the NYMEX.

In French company news, TotalEnergies reports adjusted net income for fiscal year 2023 down 36% to $23.2 billion, or $9.40 per share (-33%), and adjusted EBITDA down 30% to $50 billion.

In addition, TotalEnergies and its partners announced the start-up of production from the Akpo West field on block PML2 (in which the French group is operator with a 24% interest), located 135 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria.

Amundi reports a 3.9% increase in adjusted net income to €1.22 billion for 2023, reflecting a 2.1% increase in adjusted net revenues to €3.2 billion, with adjusted expenses rising at the same rate to €1.71 billion.

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