The Paris Stock Exchange fell Wednesday morning pending monetary policy decisions from the US central bank following its last meeting of the year.
At 10:25 a.m., the CAC 40 index lost 0.56% to 6,707.43 points. The day before, the Parisian market had rebounded sharply by 1.42% following a negative start to the week.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) will close its monetary policy meeting at midday on Wednesday a day following the release of weaker-than-expected US inflation data raised hopes of an easing in US monetary policy.
Investors expect the U.S. central bank to raise its key rate by half a percentage point this time following four very strong three-quarters of a percentage point hikes this year, a means used to drive down demand and thus curb inflation.
“All the details of the Fed meeting this evening, the last of the year, will be closely followed because it might decide the general mood of the markets at the turn of the year”, estimates Xavier Chapard, at LBPAM .
Market operators seek to anticipate when the Federal Reserve will consider that it has succeeded in containing inflation in order to slow down and then stop its monetary tightening.
Thursday, it will be the turn of the Bank of England and the European Central Bank to decide.
Inflation in the UK slowed to 10.7% in November year on year, following 11.1% in October, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday, but it remains at historically high levels which are fueling a crisis of the cost of living.
Tech is on the decline
The technology sector lost some of the ground gained the day before: Dassault Systèmes dropped 1.24%, Capgemini 1.46% and Worldline 1.35%.
AB Science and Lysogene unscrew
AB Science lost 31.77% following receiving a notice of insufficiency from the Canadian public health authority Health Canada in connection with the marketing application for masitinib in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The review process has been paused and will resume when additional information is provided to Health Canada, according to a statement from the drug company.
The title Lysogene plunged 39.14% on Wednesday, the day of the resumption of its quotation, while the biopharmaceutical company announced that the Commercial Court of Nanterre “granted its request for the opening of a safeguard procedure, which will be accompanied by an observation period set at a maximum of six months”. Lysogene, a company specializing in gene therapy targeting diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), announced on December 6 that it was requesting the opening of such a procedure given its financial situation and the absence of new funding to date.
