(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange closed down 0.7%, weighed down by the decline in its banking sector and the publication of disappointing Chinese statistics.

It was a rough day on the Paris Stock Exchange, shaken by heavy news that penalized the banking sector and the publication of disappointing statistics on Chinese foreign trade.

The CAC 40 ended down 0.69% at 7269.47 points after dropping nearly 1.4% at the height of the session. The star index in Paris was weighed down by the decline in French banking stocks after the announcement of a surprise tax on the “superprofits” generated by transalpine establishments. Concerned by the measure, Italian banks took the hit in Milan, Bper Banca dropped 9.5%, Finecobank plunged 9% when Monte Paschi Siena returned 8.8% at the close.

In France, therefore, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole, the two establishments most exposed to the Italian market, lost 3% and 2.5% respectively, where Societe Generale lost 1.7%.

The banking sector was already in the sights of investors with the degradation by Moody’s of the credit rating of several financial institutions in the United States, Monday evening. On Wall Street, the US indices are currently down more than 1%, also reacting to the rating agency’s decision.

Concerns about global economic growth

Still across the Atlantic, foreign trade showed signs of weakness last month, as in China. Exports in the Middle Empire indeed fell by 17.2% last month, posting their sharpest decline since the start of 2020. Over one year, they contracted by 14.5% while imports plunged by 12.4%.

“The trade figures highlighted the weak external and domestic demand facing the Chinese economy,” CBA analysts were quoted by AFP as saying. Above all, these data revive the concerns of the markets about the prospects for growth in the global economy.

Luxury stocks also lost ground after the publication of these disappointing data on Chinese foreign trade. LVMH returned 1.25%, Hermes 1% while Kering contained its decline to 0.6% on Tuesday evening.

Excluding sectoral movements, business news is limited during this summer break. We can cite Eutelsat, which returned 1.8% despite signing several contracts with the Brazilian AVS.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro lost 0.5% to 1.0950 dollars against the greenback, which took advantage of its status as a safe haven. As for oil prices, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in October, is down slightly by 0.1% to 85.22 dollars, after dropping 1.6% at midday. The barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in September, only yields 0.3% to 81.71 dollars.