The Paris Bourse (-1%) limited its losses to a minimum with 40 minutes to go before the close, after giving up as much as -1.5% to 7,075 points (below 7,090, the uptrend is threatened), against a backdrop of persistent concerns over the Fed's tightening of monetary policy.

The Euro-Stoxx50 gave up -1.3% and fell back to 4,195, taking the index over 24 hours from equilibrium to a loss of -2% over the past week.
Wall Street continued to move directionless or slightly down: the Dow Jones gained 0.1%, the S&P500 shed -0.1% and the Nasdaq retreated -0.7%.

The trend moved in fits and starts this week, before heaviness prevailed, reflecting questions linked to the latest statements by Fed boss Jerome Powell and John Williams (New York Fed), which reinforced fears of a faster rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The firm tone of the US central bank chairman was not enough to calm market euphoria, however.

Despite more aggressive ('hawkish') comments from the major central banks, investors are still positioning themselves against the Fed by focusing on corporate results, which is supporting equities", note Liberum's strategists.

In the analysts' view, the medium- to long-term trend remains positive, and the current weakness represents only a temporary loss of momentum, with no real signs of a turnaround.

'At the start of the year, market sentiment is (...) more optimistic than at the beginning of the year.) more optimistic than at the start of autumn 2022", points out Geoffroy Goenen, head of European equities at Candriam.
There was a figure in the US this Friday, and it came as a pleasant surprise: US consumer confidence improved more than expected in February, to 66.4 this month, compared with 64.9 in January, according to the preliminary results of the monthly survey conducted by the University of Michigan (in February 2022, the 'UMich' index stood at 62.8).
The sub-index measuring consumers' assessment of their current situation jumped to 72.6 in February from 68.4 the previous month, while the sub-index measuring changes in consumer expectations fell to 62.3 from 62.7 last month.

Europe has also managed to surprise on the positive side and, for the time being at least, avoid recession.

The same applies to the UK, with GDP stagnating in the fourth quarter of 2022 (compared with the third quarter, which showed a decline of -0.2%), according to the first estimate from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This stabilization thus enables the British economy to avoid entering a recession (characterized by at least two consecutive quarters of falling GDP).
On the bond front, the previous day's gains were wiped out as our OATs posted a yield up +7pts to 2.83%, Bunds +6pts to 2.370%, Italian BTPs +85pts to 4.214%.

Across the Atlantic, T-Bonds consolidated at the end of the week, down +4pts to 3.723%, with the '6-month' above 4.924% (i.e. almost 125pts of yield curve inversion) and the '1-year' at 4.885%.
The dollar is recovering slightly (+0.2%) towards 1.0700/1.0695E.


In company news, L'Oréal (-0.6%) last night reported sales of 38.26 billion euros for 2022, up 10.9% on a like-for-like basis on the previous year. Net EPS came to 11.26 euros, up 27.6%.

Also last night, Lacroix reported sales of €707.8 million for fiscal 2022, up 8.6% on a like-for-like basis compared with 2021, reflecting "very good sales momentum in France and abroad, and re-invoicing to offset the higher cost of sourcing electronic components".

This morning, Savencia Fromage & Dairy reported sales growth of 16.8% to 6.55 billion euros for 2022, almost entirely due to organic growth driven by non-cheese dairy products.

Finally, Bouygues Telecom announced that it had been ordered by the Paris Commercial Court to pay 308 million euros in damages to Free Mobile, in a dispute over former bundled offers by the Bouygues subsidiary.


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