(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 lost some ground in mid-session on Thursday, with its eyes still riveted on the United States where discussions on raising the debt ceiling are still at a standstill. This while Fitch placed the US credit rating on watch for a potential downgrade.

Still struck by its decline the day before (-1.7%), the CAC 40 is struggling to get up on Thursday. The Paris index lost 0.08% to 7,247.69 points at mid-session.

Investors continue to follow the endless issue of the US debt ceiling, the subject of tough negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. President Joe Biden and the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, are struggling to agree.

The latter “made traders even more nervous by declaring that the Republicans were ready to leave” the negotiations, underlines Naeem Aslam of Zaye Capital. “Although he balanced his statement by saying that the conversations were progressing, traders are tired of these false hopes and believe only in concrete results, and the fact is that today the risks of a crash due in the absence of an agreement on the American debt ceiling are just as high as a few weeks ago.

Fitch came to put the pressure. The rating agency has placed the US credit rating (AAA) on negative watch for a potential downgrade precisely because of the risk of default. Fitch, however, expects a resolution of this file.

Germany slips into recession

To do nothing to help the trend, Germany fell into recession. The evolution of the gross domestic product for the first quarter has been revised downwards, from 0% to -0.3%, after a drop of 0.5% in the last three months of 2022.

As for values, the movements are contained on the CAC 40. But outside the benchmark index, Aramis Auto jumped 14.9% thanks to good half-year results.

Soitec for its part increased by 7.5% carried by Morgan Stanley which initiated its coverage to “overweight” the action.

On the other markets, the euro lost 0.2% against the dollar at 1.0730 dollar. Oil prices are giving ground. The contract on Brent from the North Sea for delivery in July lost 1.3% to 77.22 dollars a barrel while that on WTI listed in New York fell 1.5% to 73.20 dollars a barrel.