(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index is struggling to advance on Wednesday, while several members of the Federal Reserve have made cautious statements and an agreement has still not been reached to raise the debt ceiling.

The Paris Stock Exchange clearly seems to be running out of fuel to move forward. For several sessions the CAC 40 has varied little and this is still the case on Wednesday. At midday, the Parisian index fell by 0.16% and fell below 7400 points to 7394.08 points.

The trend is being battered by several statements from members of the Federal Reserve (Fed) on Tuesday whose tone was “on the whole, on the hawkish (restrictive) side”, underlines Deutsche Bank.

Loretta Mester, the president of the Cleveland Fed, for example, judged that the rates were not yet in sufficiently restrictive territory while Thomas Barkin, the president of the Richmond Fed for his part declared that he was “comfortable ” with rate increases, if it appears that this decision is the most judicious and necessary. Which obviously does not delight markets convinced that the last rate hike by the Fed made at the beginning of the month must be the last.

Vallourec is a hit

The issue of raising the debt ceiling in the United States also continues to be blocked. After a meeting on Tuesday evening, no agreement could be reached and another meeting is due to take place this week.

US President Joe Biden said he was “optimistic” that a “reasonable budget deal” could be reached. Statements nevertheless offset by the caution of the Republican opposition. Its leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, said the positions were still “far apart”.

On values, Vallourec signs an increase of 7.7% after publishing quarterly results well above expectations.

Elior for its part collapsed by 18% after having again suffered from inflation in the first half of its 2022-2023 financial year, which will end next September. The collective catering specialist has lowered its operational profitability target, now counting on the bottom of the range previously communicated, from 1.5% to 2%.

Ubisoft sells 3%. The video game publisher has as expected published poor annual results but also delivered disappointing revenue indications for its first quarter from April to the end of June, and suggesting that no AAA games will be launched during this period.

Note that Alstom continues to move forward. The railway equipment manufacturer wins 2.3% and takes 17% over five sessions.

On other markets, the euro fell 0.4% against the dollar to 1.0820 dollar. And the oil moves little. The North Sea Brent contract for July delivery advanced 0.6% to $75.35 a barrel while New York-listed WTI advanced 0.6% to $71.25 a barrel.