(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris stock market closes the day’s session in balance, at 6,787 points, the same level as yesterday at the same time (the SBF-120 even ends in the green for +0.02 %).
In the meantime, the index has carried out major swerves, losing up to 2.5% this morning before gradually recovering during the day, even offering a brief foray into positive territory in the followingnoon. , to 6,834 points.
However, investors remain cautious given the extremely tense situation in Ukraine. Last night, Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the two separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, located in Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, and announced his intention to send the army there to ‘maintain the peace’.
‘The decision to send troops to Ukraine seems to have dashed the hopes of a diplomatic solution to the crisis, at least for the moment’, reacted this morning the teams of the research office Capital Economics.
The declarations of the master of the Kremlin prompted the European Commission to react and to point out ‘a flagrant violation of international law as well as of the Minsk agreements’. Europe is also going further and announcing ‘targeted sanctions for those involved in this illegal act’.
The Union also reaffirmed this morning its ‘unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.’
For its part, Germany announced the closure of Nordstream-2 (which was however not open for lack of certification) as well as sanctions once morest banks working in the Donbass. For the moment, no military confrontation between the Western camp and Russia seems to be on the horizon.
According to Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche Bank, the next step might be the implementation of economic and financial sanctions targeting Russia.
Such a scenario would not be without risk insofar as Moscow might in turn take retaliatory measures, in particular by acting on the tap which supplies gas to the old continent.
‘Europe has a lot more to lose in economic terms and its reaction will be particularly interesting,’ noted Jim Reid.
Across the Channel, London rose by 0.1%, across the Rhine Frankfurt gave up 0.2% and across the Atlantic, the major New York indices reopened down following the long weekend of ‘Washington’s Birthday’.
At mid-session, the differences widened markedly: the Dow Jones dropped -1.8%, the S&P500 -1.7% towards 4,275 (threatened support), the Nasdaq -2% towards 13,275 (support at 13,350 compromise).
Unsurprisingly, oil prices are benefiting from renewed fears that tensions between Russia and the West will eventually disrupt energy supply.
The barrel of American light crude (WTI) is currently jumping almost 4% to approach $95, a new high since 2014, Brent has rocketed above $97 (it is back towards $95.6 this evening ).
The yen also benefits from its status as a safe haven, as does gold, which took 0.7% to 1913.5 dollars an ounce, a peak for almost two years.
Government bonds are not benefiting from an access of stress: the yield of the ten-year American bond even tightens by +1Pts to 1.932%, the Bund deteriorates by +3Pts to 0.2620%, our OATs from +3pts to 0.726%.
Geopolitical news obviously relegates economic indicators to the background, although they promise to be rich in lessons given the uncertainties currently surrounding the evolution of monetary policies.
After taking note, in the morning, of the Ifo index of the business climate in Germany (which is improving), the operators discovered an increase of +18.6% in real estate prices in the United States in January according to the S&P Case-Shiller index (economists were expecting an annualized increase of only +18% following +18.3% in November.
Growth in private sector activity in the United States accelerated significantly in February, according to the IHS Markit composite PMI index, which came out at 56 in flash estimate, once morest 51.1 in final data for the previous month. .
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence fell slightly in February from 111.1 to 110.5, but less than expected (consensus: 109).
On the other hand, the ‘judgment of the current situation’ component improved, going from 144.5 to 145.1.
In the news of French companies, Worldline (+10.5%) publishes a normalized EPS up 5.4% to 1.57 euros for 2021, an OMDA margin improving by 220 basis points at 25.3% of revenue and free cash flow of €407 million, or 43.6% OMDA conversion.
Edenred (+4.7%) publishes net income group share up 31% to a historic high of 313 million euros for the past year, and record EBITDA at 670 million, i.e. the upper limit of announced target, up 15% (+18% like-for-like).
Airbus, Safran and Tikehau Ace Capital announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the mining and metallurgical group Eramet (+5% at 109E) for the acquisition of its subsidiary Aubert & Duval. The three partners intend to acquire 100% of Aubert & Duval through a new joint holding company which would be created specifically for this operation.
Finally, the EDF share saw its rating downgraded by Moody’s, the financial rating agency having announced yesterday evening that it had lowered the long-term credit rating to ‘Baa1’ once morest ‘A3’ previously, by adding a ‘negative’ outlook.
