After losing up to 1.3% at the start of the session, around 7,270 points, the Paris Bourse slowly made up lost ground throughout the day.

At the final gong, the Paris index limited its decline to -0.25%, at 7347 points, while Wall Street sank further, with -1% on the S&P500 and -1.4% on the Nasdaq, against a backdrop of uncertainty as to the evolution of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

Paris claimed 3% over the past week, taking its gains since the start of the year to +13.4%.

On the statistics front, US producer prices rose by more than expected in January (+0.7%), boosted by energy costs, which seems to be taking the wind out of the sails of a Fed rate cut.

Import prices fell by 0.2% last month, following a 0.1% decline in December 2022, while export prices rebounded by 0.8% in January, following a 3.2% fall the previous month.

According to the Labor Department, over the last 12 months, US import prices rose by 0.8%, both gross and excluding petroleum products, while export prices rose by 2.3% (+1.7% excluding agricultural products) in January.

Finally, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators fell by 0.3% in January (after -0.8% in December - revised from -1% - and -1.1% in November), in line with consensus expectations.

American investors seem to be at a loss as to which way to turn, torn between the preferred scenario of a "soft landing" for the economy and the less promising one of overheating prices justifying a still restrictive policy.

The bond markets ended the week on a slightly less negative note, with our OATs easing by -4pts to 2.903%, Bunds erasing -3pts to 2.4500% and Italian BTPs -4pts to 4.29%.

T-Bonds came as a nasty surprise, tightening by +4.3pts to 3.886% and inexorably closing in on 4.00%.

In corporate news, Air France-KLM reports positive net income of €0.73 billion for 2022, an improvement of €4.02 billion on 2021, with an operating margin of 4.5%, higher than 2019 (4.2%) despite a sharp rise in fuel prices.

The European Commission announces it has authorized a French aid measure of up to €1.4 billion for Air France, deeming it compliant with EU state aid rules.

Hermès International reports a 38% increase in net income (group share) to 3.37 billion euros for 2022, and a current operating income of 4.7 billion, or 40.5% of sales, compared with a margin of 39.3% the previous year.

EDF reports a net income (group share) of -17.9 billion euros in 2022, and a sharp decline in EBITDA (-5 billion euros). However, sales rose to 143.5 billion euros, buoyed by electricity and gas prices.

Finally, Safran reports adjusted sales of 19 billion euros for 2022, up 25% on 2021 and +15.8% on an organic basis. Adjusted net income (Group share) is up 55% to €1,178 million, and adjusted diluted EPS is up 55% to €2.68.


Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.