(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 ended slightly down on Thursday. Investors avoided taking too much risk before the publication of the report on non-farm payrolls in the United States on Friday afternoon.

For once, Wall Street came to lend a little support to the Paris Stock Exchange. The CAC 40 finally closed Thursday’s session close to balance, yielding 0.12% to 7,315.88 points.

The opening in the green of the American indices provided support to the European markets which recovered a little. Shortly before the close of Paris, the S&P 500 gained 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite took 0.3%.

Wall Street was helped by the rise in weekly US jobless claims, which stood at 211,000, more than expected by economists, and more than the previous week (190,000). This can be interpreted as a sign that monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed) is slowly producing its effects on the job market.

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Scarecrow Jerome Powell

But overall the markets remained on their guard during the session. The statements of the President of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, Tuesday and Wednesday, having somewhat seized the operators. The central banker indicated that the American institution could raise its rates to a higher level than anticipated by the market.

“Investors seem to be taking a cautious stance […] a bit spooked by Powell’s comments to Congress and fearful of being taken the wrong way by another searing jobs report,” said Craig Erlam of Oanda.

Highly watched by the market, the US employment report will be released Friday at 2:30 p.m. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expect 225,000 job creations and stable unemployment at 3.4%.

Dassault Aviation leads the SBF 120

As for values, significant shifts were observed on the Parisian coast on Thursday. JCDecaux slumped 16.9% after posting lower-than-expected profitability and delivering a cautious outlook for the first quarter.

Maisons du Monde lost 12.7%, while its 2022 results were weighed down by the decline in household purchasing power, itself eroded by inflation. OVHcloud fell 12%, hurt by the sale of around 5 million shares by two investment funds, according to Reuters, at an 8% discount to Wednesday’s closing price.

Dassault Aviation gained 12.2% driven by sharply higher results, with a level of available cash deemed “impressive” by UBS. The aircraft manufacturer signed the largest increase in the SBF 120.

On other markets, the euro gained 0.25% against the dollar at 1.0567 dollars. Oil prices are up a bit. The North Sea Brent contract for May advanced 0.7% to 83.18 dollars a barrel while that for April on WTI listed in New York gleaned 0.8% to 77.26 dollars a barrel.