The Paris Bourse (+1.5% to 7,547) continues its bullish rally in "euphoric" mode, gaining +2.5% over the past week: this is the 6th week of progress without any retracement greater than 0.6%, and in the USA, the record for the most sessions without any "consolidation" (a term that has disappeared from the stock market vocabulary) has been beaten for the S&P500 (+0.4% to 4,607, a new all-time record and the record for July 27 equalled) over this 6-week interval.607, a new all-time high and the July 27 record equalled) over this 6-week period.

The CAC40, for its part, is now only 30pts away from its all-time best close of mid-April (0.4%): investors can only see the glass as half full, even with figures that contradict expectations, notably the 'NFP' published at 2.30 pm (+199.00 jobs), which triggered a sharp rise in yields (between +9 and +10 basis points).

In other words, yields have been falling since October 25, which is very favourable for equities (which were only 10% off their all-time highs), and now that yields are rising, it's very favourable for equities because growth is proving more resilient than expected... hence new all-time highs for the Euro-Stoxx50 with +1.1% at 4,523pts, and a 'high' for the CAC40 since July 31 or May 19.

Both the CAC40 and the Euro-Stoxx50 were driven by the luxury goods sector, with Kering and LVMH (which has just bought a new 6,500M² building on the Champs Elysées for 1MdE according to various sources (i.e., a record price per square meter of over 150,000E, an all-time high) particularly up 3.5%.

The session was marked by the long-awaited monthly employment report
published at 2.30pm by the Department of Labor.
The consensus figure of +145,000/+150,000 was largely exceeded, with almost +200,000, and the unemployment rate, expected to rise to 4.00%, actually fell sharply from -0.2% to 3.7%.

Nothing was in line with expectations, including the downward revisions for the previous 2 months: the consensus was -50,000 and it was -35,000.

This much higher-than-expected statistic will complicate the Federal Reserve's task of recalibrating its monetary policy: its December 13 speech (final FOMC statement) may be more hawkish than Wall Street had hoped.

As a result, bond yields are clearly under pressure, with US 10-year yields up +13pts to 4.2540%, and the situation in the Eurozone is no better, with Bunds up +8pts to 2.2760% and OATs up +9pts to 2.836%... and Italian BTPs up +10pts to 4.061%.

The euro is down -0.25% around $1.0775, at a two-week low, and crude oil prices, which are seeing fears surrounding global demand dissipate with today's robust 'NFP', are attempting a small rebound after hitting new six-month lows yesterday.

However, the contraction in Japanese GDP in Q3 (-0.7%) was greater than expected... and the sharp rise in the yen over the past few days to 144/$ will not help matters (hence the Tokyo Stock Exchange's second session of -1.7% decline this morning, and a weekly fall of over -3%).).

U.S. light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rallied 2.3% to $71.5 a barrel, while Brent gained 1.7% to $75.7, with Brent rising +2.1% to $76.00 in London.

In French company news, Airbus announces that Cathay Group, already one of the biggest operators of the A350, has become the latest airline to order its brand-new A350F, following the signature of a purchase contract for six aircraft.

ArcelorMittal announced that it had finalized the sale of ArcelorMittal Temirtau, its Kazakh steel and mining subsidiary, to Qazaqstan Investment Corporation (QIC), an investment fund controlled by the Kazakh state.

Finally, Euronext announced yesterday evening that Vivendi's shares would be returning to the CAC 40 index, six months after having left it, a decision that enabled the stock to climb by more than 2.3% on the Paris Bourse on Friday.


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