(News Bulletin 247) – Foreign trade figures in China have reported a further drop in imports, which is weighing on luxury stocks in particular.

After experiencing a lackluster session on Monday, a public holiday in France, the Paris Stock Exchange caught a cold on Tuesday, following poor foreign trade figures in China. At mid-session, the CAC 40 fell by 0.9% to 7,374.68 points.

In April, Chinese exports grew by 8.5% over one year, a growth lower than that of March, by 14.8%, while imports fell by 7.9%, more than in March (-1.4%) and much more than the consensus of economists polled by Bloomberg (-0.2%).

Luxury stumbles

“In April, Chinese imports fell by nearly 8% on an annual basis while the consensus was expecting an unchanged figure. Typically the kind of figure that could lead to gains in certain European stocks, such as luxury stocks for example” , notes Alexandre Baradez, market analyst at IG France.

Indeed, Kering and Hermes fell respectively by 2.2% and 1.7% while LVMH held up better (-0.6%).

The markets will await the publication, on Wednesday afternoon, of the major statistic of the week, namely US inflation for the month of April. Economists surveyed by the wall street journal expect an increase of 5% over one year for the overall figure and 5.6% for the basic index, excluding energy and food prices.

On the stocks, on the side of the smallest caps, the biopharmaceutical company Theranexus jumped 65% after obtaining validation from the American health authority of the efficacy criteria and design of its pivotal phase III clinical study for its potential. treatment for Batten’s disease.

Euroapi, for its part, is gaining some ground, taking 0.6% after announcing a contract with a subsidiary of L’Oréal for several cosmetics projects.

On the other markets, the euro lost 0.2% against the dollar at 1.0985 dollars. Oil prices are falling. The North Sea Brent contract for July delivery fell 0.7% to $76.44 a barrel while the June WTI contract listed in New York lost 0.8% to $72.57 a barrel.