(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 lost ground in mid-session, market operators avoiding risk-taking before a salvo of corporate results this week.

New vigil of arms for the Paris Stock Exchange. The CAC 40 fell slightly in mid-session on Monday, yielding 0.06% to 7,572.15 points.

The market is showing a certain wait-and-see attitude, while company publications will be numerous this week, with around fifteen CAC 40 groups publishing either their turnover or their financial results this week.

The ball will also accelerate on the side of the United States where Microsoft, Amazon or even Alphabet will reveal their quarterly accounts.

“This week, it is the American technology giants that will set the tone of the exchanges”, summarizes Naeem Aslam, of Zaye Capital.

In the meantime, market operators have taken note of the Ifo index, which measures German investor confidence. This index continued to improve to stand at 93.6 in April after reaching 93.2 the previous month. “The survey provided further evidence that the eurozone economy was unaffected by the recent banking turmoil,” said economists from Capital Economics.

The Casino file becomes more complex

As for values, Orpea plummets by 12%, while its board of directors refused to hold a general meeting, thus dismissing a request from minority shareholders who wanted to express their dissatisfaction with the heavy restructuring of the company.

Gertlink took 2.7% as the Channel Tunnel operator benefited from a recommendation upgrade from Goldman Sachs, which moved to “buy” against “neutral” previously.

Casino yields only 1% while the Czech businessman, Daniel Kretinsky, has submitted a proposal with the project of a capital increase of 1.1 billion euros to bail out the distribution group (including 750 million by its own company). Given the capitalization of the group (700 million euros) this operation would create a heavy dilution for the existing shareholders. But the title stands.

“The explanation is quite simply that the market takes note of the progress of the merger file with InvIvo. And it puts Kretinsky’s proposal into perspective, which seems complicated and very demanding”, deciphers a financial analyst.

In parallel with Daniel Kretinsky’s proposal, Casino has effectively announced progress in its merger with Teract, a subsidiary of the agricultural cooperative InVivo, which notably owns Jardiland and Gamm’Vert. A deepening of the partnership with the Les Mousquetaires group is announced. The new entity resulting from the Teract-Casino merger could sell to the Les Mousquetaires group points of sale from Casino stores in France for 1.1 billion euros in turnover. Les Mousquetaires could also become a minority shareholder in this new entity.

On the other markets, the euro gained 0.2% against the dollar at 1.1011 dollar. Oil prices are falling. The North Sea Brent contract fell 0.6% to 81.16 dollars a barrel while the WTI contract listed in New York dropped 0.2% to 77.68 dollars a barrel.