(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index closed slightly higher on Thursday evening, investors are chomping at the bit before central bank meetings next week. The CAC 40 gained 0.3% Thursday evening.

The Paris Stock Exchange is struggling to emerge from its torpor. The CAC 40 gleans 0.3% to 7222.15 points, the day after a lackluster session which saw the Parisian index contract by 0.1%.

The market is avoiding reckless risk-taking, and adopting a cautious approach ahead of the next Federal Reserve meeting to be held on June 13 and 14. While awaiting the verdict of the Fed on its rates, the operators took note of the applications for unemployment benefits in the United States for the past week. They jumped to 261,000 registrations during Memorial Day week from 233,000 the week before, the biggest increase since October 2021.

This statistic, which is not very encouraging on paper, has somewhat calmed the nerves of investors, who have been strained after the rate hikes announced in recent days by the central banks of Australia and Canada. “As the Federal Reserve, ECB and Bank of Japan are due to meet next week and in view of rate hikes [des autres banques centrales]bets on a Fed pause next week are off the table amid fears the Fed will follow suit,” says Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.

Earlier in the day, operators took note of a contraction of 0.1% of GDP in the euro zone in the first quarter, against an increase of 0.1% in the first estimate.

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In terms of values, auto parts manufacturers Valeo (+4.8%), Forvia (+3.7%) and Plastic Omnium (+2.3%) were supported by announcements from Sweden’s Autoliv, which showed its determination to negotiate price increases with its customers to pass on inflation.

Interparfums gained 2.2% while TP ICAP Midcap went back to buying the stock

Airbus gained 0.1% despite deliveries for the month of May deemed encouraging by analysts.

On the other markets, the euro took 0.7% to 1.0778 dollars. Oil prices are plunging. The August contract on Brent from the North Sea lost 2.4% to 75.14 dollars a barrel while the July contract on WTI listed in New York dropped 2.7% to 70.56 dollars a barrel.