Around 10:05 a.m., the flagship CAC 40 index advanced 0.29% to 7,337.18 points the day after a decline of 0.39%, but the luxury sector weighed heavily on the rating.
At the end of this session, the Parisian place will close for 4 days and will not resume trading until Tuesday.
Since the beginning of the week, several statistics showing a slowdown in the economy in the United States have fueled fears of recession, with investors wondering if the American central bank has not gone too far in monetary tightening in order to fight the ‘inflation.
“The market seems to be swinging between the certainty of a recession and the hope that it will be shallow,” comments Victor Verberk, co-head of the credit team at Robeco.
While they had been hoping for months for signs of easing in the American labor market and an economic slowdown to foresee an imminent end to the cycles of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed), market participants are now worried about the health of the world’s largest economy.
Weaker-than-expected private job creation in March and above all the stronger-than-expected slowdown in activity in services (ISM) published on Wednesday in the United States are raising fears because they pose a risk of contraction .
According to experts, the data for the next few days on employment and inflation in the United States will be decisive in determining whether or not the American central bank (Fed) will increase its key rate by another 25 basis points during its next meeting in May.
“The start of the publication of first quarter results will also be an opportunity to assess the impact of the banking crisis and the tightening of credit conditions on economic growth that has hitherto remained solid” in Europe, underlines Gilles Guibout, head of European equities at AXA IM.
Energy electrifies the coast
The gas-oil group TotalEnergies has announced that it will “temporarily” extend its price cap measure from Friday to 1.99 euros per liter to all fuels (SP95, SP98, diesel, Excellium). The action rose 1.35% to 57.91 euros.
Engie gained 1.29% to 15.12 euros, Voltalia advanced by 0.58% to 13.93 euros and Neon by 0.77% to 28.86 euros.