(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange is still moving up on Friday, supported by the confirmation of a slowdown in inflation in the euro zone and before another price index expected this afternoon in the United States. The CAC 40 is currently gaining for the whole month of March.

Will the Paris Stock Exchange achieve the perfect week? For now, the answer is yes. The CAC 40 gained 0.47% to move mid-session, at the gates of 7,300 points to 7,297.38 points. The star index in Paris is carried by the confirmation of a slowdown in the rise in consumer prices throughout the euro zone following the announcement of a similar trend in Germany and Spain.

If the progression of the CAC 40 were to be confirmed at the close, the Paris star index would be credited with a gain of 0.41% over the whole of March. Better still, it is on track to achieve a second consecutive quarter of growth. However, this scenario was still unimaginable two weeks ago, when the markets were at the heart of the storm that swept through the banking sector.

These concerns having dissipated in the absence of bad news, inflation and monetary policies are reminiscent of good memories for investors. This last session of the week is indeed placed under the sign of the evolution of prices on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the euro zone, the annual inflation rate fell in March for the fifth consecutive month, thanks to the lull in energy prices. It stands at 6.9% over one year, after 8.5% in February, according to Eurostat. Note, however, a rise in core inflation (which excludes food and energy prices) to 5.7%, which could lead the ECB to raise its rates further.

“The leaders of the European Central Bank will not dwell too much on the headline rate and will rather worry about the rise in underlying inflation”, comments Jack Allen-Reynolds, analyst at Capital Economics, quoted by the AFP.

Then it will be the turn of the PCE prices (personal consumption expenditures) to be unveiled this Friday. This is the Fed’s go-to gauge of price momentum, expected to slow to 0.4% in February from 0.6% in January. Meet at 2:30 p.m. Data that could influence the direction of the markets in the last hours of this first quarter.

Air France-KLM on cloud nine

Air France-KLM (+3.2%) is wanted this Friday, several analysts having shown their support for the airline, including Deutsche Bank. The design office went on the purchase on the title with a target price of 2.30 euros.

On the other hand, it was a difficult weekend for Sartorius Stedim Biotech, whose plan to acquire Polyplus did not receive the welcome expected because it was deemed too expensive. The title shows the largest drop in the SBF 120 and yields nearly 9% at midday.

As for the foreign exchange market, the euro lost 0.2% to 1.0887 dollars. Oil prices are experiencing some profit taking after their recent advance. A barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in May lost 0.4% to 78.32 dollars, while a barrel of American WTI for the same maturity fell slightly by 0.1% to 74.29 dollars.