The Paris stock market has been stagnating since mid-afternoon, in derisory volumes (less than 750MnsE traded in 8 hours), despite a long 4-day bridge: balance sheet wrapping is probably over, as it doesn't even generate 'technical volume'.

After a brief foray above 7,600 in early trading, the CAC40 hovered around 7,570 points, kept afloat by Alstom (+1.5%) and Capgemini (+1.1%).

With 3 days to go before the close of the 2023 financial year, the CAC 40 index has posted an annual gain of around 17% (+21% for the CAC40 Global return at 23,000Pts), one of its best performances of the last ten years.

Wall Street posted another session of gains: a marginal gain of +0.1% to +0.2%, which was enough to set a new annual record for the Nasdaq Composite at 15,110.
The optimism generated by expectations of Fed rate cuts prolonged the end-of-year rally in US equities.

The S&P500 (stable) remains poised for its best-ever close, with an all-time high of around 30 points.
With a gain of over 24% since January 1, the benchmark index for US fund managers is, at this stage, posting one of its best quarterly performances since 2020 (the index recovered from -35% to -mid-March 2020).
The Dow Jones (+0.1%) came within 9Pts (0.03%) of its all-time high of 37,641Pts.

The 'Magnificent Seven', technology stocks linked to artificial intelligence, took the lion's share of this excellent performance (90%), with overall value more than doubling thanks to the AI craze: Tesla (+2.5%) led the way on Wednesday, ahead of Meta with +1%.... and enabled the Nasdaq-100 to set a new all-time record at 16,920.

The CBOE VIX volatility index, often presented as the barometer of fear, fell back below the 13-point threshold (-1.3% to 12.80), a low level close to its lows for the year.

With regard to 2024, the US stock market still retains potential in terms of yield, but its valuation levels remain high, not least because of fears about the economy, analysts point out.

The Fed's recent intervention is clearly positive, but the market has already made significant progress in anticipation of a rate cut", emphasize Swiss Life Asset Managers' teams.
Despite the absence of key elements, US bond markets are continuing their upward trend: the yield on 10-year Treasuries has erased -4.5 basis points to return below 3.85%.

Still penalized by bets that the Fed will beat the ECB to a rate cut, the dollar continues to slide against the other major currencies ($-Index down 0.45% at 101, the lowest since 07/27), propelling the euro to the vicinity of 1.1150, a new high since the summer, which validates a signal that the upward trend towards $1.1250 is continuing.

There are no major economic indicators on today's agenda in either Europe or the United States, and we'll have to wait for tomorrow's release of jobless claims in the US for the week's only major statistic.

European bond markets are also easing, with Bunds at 1.9150% down 5.5 points, OATs at 2.522% down 5 points, and Italian BRPs at 3.508% down 4 points.

On the energy front, Brent crude is stable at around $80.9 a barrel.
Gold is benefiting from falling bond yields, gaining +0.6 around $2,066 an ounce (an all-time closing record is on the horizon).

In French company news, Alstom has announced that it will supply Ferrovie del Sud Est, the transport operator in Italy's Puglia region, with two Coradia Stream H hydrogen trains to replace current diesel trains. These will be the first hydrogen-powered trains in the region.

Neoen announces that it has instructed Nidec to start work on Yllikkälä Power Reserve Two (YPR2). Nidec will be in charge of building the project and supplying the containers, battery cells and inverters.

Finally, Orpea shareholders (+19%) approved the appointment of a new Board of Directors on Friday, following the arrival of Caisse des Dépôts, CNP, MAIF and MACSF as new shareholders.

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