The Paris Bourse (-0.4% to 7,185) sharply reduced its losses at the close - following in Wall Street's footsteps - and will preserve the key support at 7,150 (marginally breached early this morning with a fleeting low at 7.135).

The indices then recovered after the publication of the latest PMI figures (the reception was negative, the Euro stumbled towards 1.0615, then investors changed their minds), but the CAC posted a heavy decline of -2.5% this week.

As a result, the rather mediocre PMIs had little influence on the trend: the HCOB composite PMI for overall activity in France fell sharply in September flash estimates, dropping from 46 in August to 43.5, and thus signalling the sharpest contraction in the private sector since November 2020.

In the eurozone, the HCOB composite PMI flash index of overall activity stood at 47.1 in September, down from 46.7 the previous month, signalling a fourth consecutive monthly decline in private sector activity.

Wall Street reopened on an indecisive note before benefiting from buybacks on the eve of the weekend: the Dow Jones recovered 0.1%, the S&P500 +0.4%, the Nasdaq +0.8% after -1.85% the previous day.

No particular movement on the Tokyo Stock Exchange despite the BoJ (Bank of Japan) meeting: this "suspenseful" session ended with a limited decline of 0.2% on Friday, but with 4 out of 4 sessions down (Monday was a public holiday) for a weekly loss of -3.4%.

The Bank of Japan left rates unchanged and maintained its ultra-accommodating monetary policy, denying speculation that it would tighten to counter the yen's weakness (which sank to 148.4 against the dollar, testing its 1-year lows of 150/$).

On the bond front, yields are symbolically easing from -1 to -1.5 pts, stagnating near their worst levels of the year, at 2.735% for the Bund and 3.28% for the OAT.

US T-Bonds erased 4Pts to 4.445%, and their yield held above the previous 'peak' of 4.36%.

Investors will go into the weekend with a new source of concern, namely the evolution of the US yield curve, which now sees the yield on ten-year Treasuries at 4.50%.... when Wall Street was hoping that Jerome Powell would find the words to trigger an easing towards 4%.

Some observers point out that this is the highest level since October 2007, precisely the moment chosen by the S&P 500 to register an all-time high, one year before the Lehman Brothers crisis.

The price of a barrel is trending upwards, but is nonetheless heading for a drop of more than 1% over the week, linked mainly to concerns over slowing global demand.

Brent crude is up 1.2% at over $94.3 a barrel, and US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) is up 1% at around $90.6 after peaking this morning at $91.3 (it would then have ended the week unchanged)...

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