The Paris Bourse gained nearly 0.6% 90 minutes after the release of US inflation figures (CPI), with the flagship index hovering around 7,245/7,250 points (annual record) and the CAC40 'GR' setting a new all-time record at 21.300 (i.e. +12% since January 1st and +29.2% in 20 weeks).
The CAC40 is supported by a bullish backdrop in Europe and the United States, with the E-Stoxx50 up +0.6%, Frankfurt gaining 0.55%, Milan +0.7% and Madrid +0.9%.
On Wall Street, indices returned to the green after a slightly negative opening: the Dow Jones climbed +0.1%, the S&P500 +0.4% and the Nasdaq +0.6%.
Investors gave an unemotional welcome to the CPI's +0.5% rise in January.
According to the Labor Department, the US consumer price index rose by 6.4% in January over 12 months, an annual rate still at its lowest since October 2021, but slightly higher than economists' expectations.

Excluding energy (+8.7%) and food (+10.1%), two traditionally volatile categories, the core annual inflation rate stood at 5.6% last month, a level also slightly above the market's average expectations (5.4%), with a rise in the price of "services" undermining the scenario of a decline towards 3% by the end of the year.
The consensus for the FED's "final rate" is mostly expected to be 5.50%, and 5.25% is no longer as consensual as it was before the NFP.

On a sequential basis, i.e. between December 2022 and January 2023, US consumer prices rose by 0.5% on a gross basis, and by 0.4% excluding energy and food.
'Disinflation is certainly underway, as Jerome Powell recognized in his recent speeches, but it is not uniform: very strong for energy, slower for most goods, non-existent for
services', emphasize Oddo BHF's teams.

In France, at the start of the day, we discovered the unemployment rate as defined by the ILO (International Labour Office) and calculated by INSEE for the Hexagon. It was virtually stable (-0.1 points) in the fourth quarter of 2022, at 7.2% of the working population in France (excluding Mayotte).

"This is its lowest level since the first quarter of 2008, if we exclude the one-off 'trompe-l'oeil' fall in the second quarter of 2020, during the first containment period", stresses INSEE, which published these figures.

The number of unemployed people in the ILO sense fell by 45,000 on the previous quarter, to 2.2 million. On the other hand, the 'halo around unemployment' (people who are inactive in the ILO sense but want a job) rose by 38,000 to 1.9 million.

This is one point lower than before the health crisis... but the 'grooming' of the number of people registered with Pôle Emploi broke absolute records in 2022.

Bond markets reacted little to CPI: US T-Bonds remained stable at 3.72% (they had eased to 3.68% this morning: back to square one).
In Europe, our OATs show a symbolic +1Pt at 2.8754%, Bunds +1.5Pt at 2.3900%... but Italian BTPs are easing by -2Pts to 4.159%.
The Dollar continues to fall towards 1.0770 against the Euro, i.e. -0.40%.

In corporate news, Michelin announced last night sales of 28.6 billion euros for fiscal year 2022, up 20.2% on the previous year. Net income rose by 8.9% to ME 2009 for 2022, giving earnings per share of 2.81 euros, compared with 2.58 euros a year earlier.

Also last night, Rothschild & Co. reported sales of E2.9 billion for the 2022 financial year, up 1% on the same period a year earlier. Net income was down 21% to 606 ME, with EPS also down 21% to 8.38 euros.

M6 reported consolidated sales of 1357 ME for fiscal 2022, down 2.4% on the previous year, while net income for the period came to 161.5 ME, down 42.5% year-on-year.

This morning, TF1 reported a 21.8% drop in net income, group share, to 176.1 million euros for the past year, as well as current operating income of 316.2 million, down 1.5 points to 12.6%.

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