(News Bulletin 247) – The two PMI manufacturing indices showed a clear recovery in the country, the first signal of the improvement in the economy due to the end of the zero Covid-19 policy.

The CAC 40 is resuming its forward march. The flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange gained 0.8% to 7,324.95 points, after falling 0.4% the day before.

Good activity indicators in China are giving the market some appetite for risk. The official manufacturing PMI, released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, came in at 52.6 in February from 50.1 in January and a figure of 50.6 expected by economists polled by Bloomberg. The independent PMI Caixin index, published by S&P Global Market Intelligence, registered at 51.6 against 49.2 in January, marking a record of almost two years.

Remember that a figure of 50 marks the border between a contraction and a decline in activity.

Renewed optimism

“The data from this survey suggests that companies are now extremely optimistic about the future,” said Craig Erlam of Oanda.

“There is still a long way to go and there could be setbacks along the way, but investors will no doubt be encouraged by these early signs” of improvement, he said.

The second estimate of the PMI indices in Europe has also been published, with for the euro zone a figure of 48.5 for February, identical to the first publication.

The market will also wait for the publication, at the beginning of the afternoon, of inflation in Germany.

Eurofins in the hard

As for values, Eurofins shows the largest drop in the CAC 40 (-10%) after having published a disappointing annual profitability and lowered its outlook for 2023. The BNP Paribas share (-2.3%) finds itself a little under pressure, when the Belgian State decided to sell a third of its stake in the bank.

Luxury is carried by the good statistics of China, Kering taking 2.7% just like LVMH. The number one luxury has announced a share buyback program for a maximum amount of 1.5 billion euros.

Atos takes nearly 8%, driven by satisfactory 2022 results with an acceleration of growth in the last quarter.

Euronext, for its part, advances by 5.7%, the market being relieved that the stock market operator has given up on acquiring Allfunds. The dollar suffered from the renewed appetite for risk. The euro thus gained 0.8% against the note at 1.0666 dollars. Oil prices, for their part, are falling. North Sea Brent crude for May delivery fell 0.9% to $82.72 a barrel, while New York-listed WTI for April delivery fell 1.1% to $76.19 a barrel.