(News Bulletin 247) – With the renewed tension in the banking sector, the Parisian index has clearly started to fall. The CAC 40 closed down 0.6%, after threatening the threshold of 7,500 points in the morning.

Fears surrounding the soundness of the banking system are reminiscent of good memories for investors and weighed on the trend on Tuesday at the Paris Stock Exchange. The CAC 40 ended down 0.56% at 7,531.61 points and posted its strongest decline since the session of March 24 (-1.74%), a contraction of the star index which was also in linked to concerns about Deutsche Bank.

This small resurgence of tension comes as several banks have issued negative signals during their quarterly accounts, namely Santander and UBS. The Spanish bank published decent results, but the decline in its deposits in Spain and a lower-than-expected profit in Brazil worried the market. UBS for its part unveiled a net result significantly lower than analysts’ forecasts. The Swiss establishment has also indicated that it intends to finalize the takeover of Credit Suisse in the second quarter.

In the United States, First Republic, a regional establishment in the sights of the market, for its part announced a flight of deposits stronger than anticipated by analysts, of more than 70 billion dollars in the first quarter. Its action collapsed 28% in trading on Wall Street.

In this unfavorable context for the sector, banking stocks suffered the blow, Societe Generale – the red lantern of the CAC 40 – closed down 3.2% while BNP Paribas gave up 2.4% and Crédit Agricole (-1, 5%).

The Gafam in the line of sight

In addition to the renewed tensions in the banking sector, operators are impatiently awaiting the publications of Gafam, this acronym which defines the tenors of tech in the United States. Alphabet (the parent company of Google) and Microsoft will unveil their first quarter accounts after the close of Wall Street.

In Paris, Sanofi, TotalEnergies, Carrefour and even Vinci will be on the agenda for this busy week in corporate publications. As for the statistics, the stress could “rise a notch before the publication of American growth for the first quarter and inflation (PCE) this Friday”, notes John Plassard of Mirabaud.

Earlier in the afternoon, investors took note of a deterioration in US consumer confidence, under fears of recession. Household morale thus fell in April more significantly than expected, to contract to 101.3 points, against 104 points in March and 104.1 points expected by analysts.

The car slips

As for values, SMCP has regained height (+2.6%) so the process of recomposing its capital is accelerating. Creditors of European TopSoho expect to receive preliminary offers for the block of shares they hold in the “accessible luxury” specialist in the coming weeks, according to Reuters.

Some cyclical stocks also suffered, such as banking, but also automotive suppliers, with Faurecia returning 2.9% and Valeo 1.7%.

Roche Bobois fell 5.5% after posting strong first-quarter sales. But TP ICAP Midcap, which downgraded its advice to “hold” to “buy”, is seeing signs of a faltering in the company’s order intake.

Orpea continues its stock market torment and again conceded nearly 17% the day after a decline of 11.2% after the refusal of the operator of retirement homes to organize a general meeting.

As for small and mid caps, Nanobiotix plunged more than 32%, the French biotech having expressed doubts about its future after degraded annual accounts.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.75% to 1.1974 dollars. Oil prices have accelerated their decline, under fears of a recession. Brent crude from the North Sea for delivery in June fell 2.45% to 80.52 dollars a barrel, while WTI for the same maturity and listed in New York fell 2.4% to 76.87 dollars a barrel.