The Paris Bourse is expected to open slightly lower on Monday following the first round of the presidential election, which saw far-right candidate Marine Le Pen qualify for the second round with incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.
The futures contract for the star CAC 40 index fell 0.44% around thirty minutes before the opening of the session. Friday, he ended on a rise of 1.34%, marked by the desire of central banks to show determination to fight inflation.
“European markets should open lower, with no signs of improvement for the CAC 40 following the first weekend of voting in France,” said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.
Emmanuel Macron’s “greater than expected” lead (27-28%) over Marine Le Pen (23-24%) allowed “a brief recovery in Asia” for the euro, which however ended up retreating, added the analyst.
The prospects for the second round, with the latest polls showing the incumbent president narrowly winning the election, are worrying.
“A narrowing of the gap in favor of Le Pen, who is known to have a clear sympathy for Russia, might dampen investors’ moods ahead of the final election scheduled for April 24,” Ipek confirmed. Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote.
In addition to the French presidential election, the health situation in China might also weigh on the Parisian index, following making Asia nervous. “Fears are growing that a prolonged lockdown in China, which might spread to other major industrial cities, will dim the already bleak outlook for Chinese growth,” Hewson said.
Furthermore, “Russia’s bombardment of major fuel depots in Ukraine threatens farmers’ fuel supplies as the planting season is regarding to begin”, which might have a strong impact on “prices”. world food,” said the analyst.
The economic agenda is also loaded with major indicators, with many inflation data published this week, following the announcement on Monday morning of almost zero economic growth in the United Kingdom in February (+0.1% ). “All of this data carries upside risks and might increase the noise around more rapid tightening by the Bank of England,” noted Hewson.
“My overriding impression at the start of the week is that risks on multiple fronts are increasing, led by Covid-zero and the potential slowdown in China, followed by inflation,” he summed up.
– Among the values to follow on Monday
Societe Generale: The French bank announced on Monday “to cease its activities” in Russia and will sell all of its stake in Rosbank, a heavyweight in the Russian banking sector, as well as its insurance subsidiaries in the country, according to a press release. This “envisaged transaction should lead” to a negative impact in its accounts of 3.1 billion euros, the bank said.
TF1: The audiovisual groups TF1, M6 and Altice announced on Friday that they had signed agreements for the sale of the TFX and 6ter channels to Altice, in the event of the effective completion of the planned merger between TF1 and M6.
Airbus: Airbus obtained 104 new orders in March, but recorded 63 cancellations for A330s ordered by the Malaysian company Air Asia X, today in difficulty.
cdu / jvi / er
