(CercleFinance.com) – It would seem that buyers are coming back in force on Wall Street on the eve of the end of the calendar month to try to limit the breakage (worst month of April of the 21st century with -8% Wednesday evening for the S&P) : Indeed, the gains observed at mid-session make no sense.
The Dow Jones jumped by +1.8%, the S&P500 by +2.5%, the Nasdaq by +3%: no news published since 5 p.m. justifies such a wind of euphoria.
Joe Biden has even just confirmed an escalation of the proxy war in Ukraine with Russia with the sending of $20 billion of US military equipment and armaments with the justification: ‘we are not making war on Russia, we are helping Ukraine to defend itself’.
We dare not imagine the risk of planetary conflagration if Russia had decided ‘to help Iraq to defend itself’ in the same way once morest the American invasion – on the fallacious pretext of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction – in spring 2003.
Volatility was at the rendezvous in Paris: from a gain of 2% this morning, the CAC40 briefly went into the red one hour before the closing ‘fixing’ before ending the day’s session with a gain of 0.98 %, at 6,508 points.
The upward trend is also confirmed in London (+0.94%), Frankfurt (+1.20%) and the E-Stoxx50 (+0.96%) but also across the Atlantic where the Dow Jones is up 0.5% behind the S&P500 and the Nasdaq (+1%).
Most of the gains came from +12% from Meta-Platform (ex-Facebook) following better than expected earnings published last night.
In addition to the publications of a shower of quarterly corporate results, the day’s session was punctuated by numerous economic statistics.
The most surprising is obviously the -1.4% contraction in US GDP in the 1st quarter of 2022 (far from +1.1% anticipated by the consensus), linked to the fall in exports (other parameters such as consumption , investment and employment are very positive).
The US benefited from a strong increase in consumer spending (+2.7%) during the 1st quarter, but which turned out to be a bit of a sham: it resulted from the ‘price effect’ on products such as fuel or food which represent incompressible expenses.
In addition, the number of registered unemployed in the United States fell by -5,000 in weekly data to 180,000: the US Department of Labor specifies that the number of regular beneficiaries fell by 1,000 to reach 1.41 million CVS at the end of the week of April 9 to 16.
This is the lowest algebraic level since the early 1970s.
An important figure also in Germany this morning: according to Destatis, the rise in energy prices has once more fueled inflation which rose to 7.4% in the first estimate in April ( once morest 7.2% expected ), according to official figures released Thursday.
According to initial figures published by the Federal Statistical Office, consumer prices increased by 0.8% over one month, that is to say compared to March.
According to the harmonized HICP inflation standard, inflation stands at +0.7% over one month and +7.8% over one year: unheard of since 1981 with the Iran-Iraq conflict.
Energy prices alone soared 35.3% year on year in April, a phenomenon that was accentuated with the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
The bond markets deteriorated spectacularly on both sides of the Atlantic with +10Pts on OATs at 1.407% and on Bunds at 0.9100% and US T-Bonds soared by +9Pts at 2.8620%.
Yesterday’s suspension of gas deliveries by Russia’s Gazprom to Poland and Bulgaria has heightened expectations of inflationary pressures in Europe, synonymous with a weakening of the euro: our currency is sinking to a new 5-year low, at 1 .0470, or -8% this Thursday and -7.6% since January 1.
Foreign exchange effect still: in Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended up 1.8% on Thursday thanks to a decline of nearly 2% in the yen once morest the dollar (to a 20-year low of 1.3100% ) following the Bank of Japan (BoJ) decided to maintain its economic stimulus measures and buy ‘as many Treasuries as necessary’ to keep the ’10-year’ yield below 0.25% .
Oil is recovering by +1.5% towards $107 in London, gas is also still up sharply compared to Monday.
On the value side, Total posted adjusted net income of $9 billion in the first quarter of 2022 and IFRS net income of $4.9 billion. The group posted adjusted net operating income from the segments of $9,458 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to $3,487 million in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted net income, share was $8,977 million compared to $3,003 million. The group also announces that it has decided to provision an amount of $4.1 billion as of March 31, 2022, in particular for Arctic LNG 2 in Russia.
Sanofi’s sales reached 9,674 million euros in the first quarter of 2022, up 12.6% on a reported basis. Business EPS was E1.94, up 20.5% on a reported basis and 16.1% at constant exchange rates, and IFRS EPS was E1.61 (+28.8%). Sanofi expects 2022 business EPS to grow “low double-digit” at CER, barring unforeseen major adverse events.
Thales’ revenue amounted to €3,730 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to €3,573 million in the first quarter of 2021, up 4.4% on a reported basis, and up 2.7% on a like-for-like basis. constant exchange rates. Order intake amounted to 3,033 ME in the first quarter of 2022, down 6% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Thales confirms all of its annual objectives: revenue in the range of 16.6 to 17.2 billion euros, corresponding to organic growth of between +2% and +6% compared to 2021 and a margin of ‘EBIT between 10.8% and 11.1%, up 60 to 90 basis points compared to 2021.
The Capgemini group achieved revenue of 5,167 million euros in the 1st quarter of 2022, up 21.0% at current exchange rates and 17.7% at constant exchange rates compared to the 1st quarter of the previous year. Management targets for the 2022 financial year revenue growth at constant exchange rates of between +8% and +10%, an operating margin of between 12.9% and 13.1% and generation of free cash -organic flow greater than 1,700 million euros.