(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange accentuates its decline towards 7,300 points. The CAC 40 closed down 0.4% undermined by fears of recession after mixed activity indicators in the United States.

The weeks follow each other but are not alike on the Paris Stock Exchange. After an excellent run last week, the CAC 40 continues to decline for the second consecutive session. The index closed down 0.39% at 7,316.30 points on Wednesday the day after a symbolic decline of -0.01%.

The latest statistics in the United States have somewhat calmed the upward movement that the market was experiencing. And the latest indicators published this afternoon on the other side of the Atlantic are fueling fears of an economic slowdown in a context of rate tightening.

According to the ADP survey, private sector companies in the United States created fewer jobs than expected, at 145,000 jobs in March, a sharp drop from February (261,000). The US job market is therefore showing signs of weakness, confirming the “Jolts” data released on Monday. They had already highlighted a sharp decline in job openings in the country in February, which “could be the first signs of weakness in the American labor market, which is huge”, underlines Craig Erlam of Oanda .

Also in the United States, growth in activity in services slowed in March according to the Institute for Supply Management. The index came out at 51.2 points, marking a marked slowdown with the 55.1 points observed in February.

“As the risks of an impending banking crisis have dissipated, fears about growth momentum, particularly in the United States, have continued to gain ground, all the more so with the new rise in the price of oil”, underline for their part the economists of La Banque Postale Asset Management, for whom “the risk of recession seems to be gaining ground”.

Earlier in the morning, traders had already learned of a similar trend in private sector activity in the euro zone. The composite PMI for March was revised down slightly to 53.7 from 54.1 in a first estimate. A figure of 50 marks the boundary between an expansion and a contraction in activity.

The appetizing announcements of Sodexo

As for values, operators relished the latest announcements from Sodexo (+11.3%). The group has announced its plan to split its employee benefits and rewards business, which includes restaurant vouchers. This split via an IPO should enable this business to accelerate its growth and be more agile in terms of strategy.

Solutions 30 limits its gains to 0.5% after gaining 11% in early trading following the announcement of a partnership in the United Kingdom to roll out fiber optics in London, on the service provider’s network Internet Community Fiber.

M6 fell by 0.2% while the French carrier CMA CGM now holds more than 10% of the capital of the media group.

Conversely, Nexans dropped 7.1%, weighed down by the sale of 4.2 million shares of its Chilean reference shareholder Invexans.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.3% to 1.0922 dollars. Oil, on the other hand, is changing little. The June contract on Brent from the North Sea fell 0.1% to 84.87 dollars a barrel while that of May on WTI listed in New York returned 0.3% to 80.47 dollars a barrel.