(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index ended very slightly down this Wednesday, further penalized by the slight increase in bond yields and the rise in black gold prices. TotalEnergies benefited from its announcements on its shareholder return while Teleperformance was penalized by a downgrade in UBS.

The Paris Stock Exchange failed to rebound. The CAC 40 ended slightly down 0.03% at 7,071.49 points this Wednesday, recording a fifth session in the red.

While they appeared to stabilize during the session, bond yields started to rise again in the afternoon. The rate on the 10-year US Treasury bond thus rose to 4.556% compared to 4.54% on Tuesday evening, the highest in 16 years. That on the German Bund at 10 years stands at 2.835% compared to 2.808% the day before, a level not seen since 2011.

“Stock markets are rather stable this mid-week and are struggling to recover, with investors worried about rising long-term interest rates and the economy,” summarizes Craig Erlam of Oanda.

>> Access our exclusive graphic analyses, and gain insight into the Trading Portfolio

Oil driven by the collapse of American stocks

Furthermore, oil prices are rising significantly, driven by a surprise drop in crude stocks in the United States last week, with a contraction of 2.2 million barrels, much more than the 900,000 anticipated by analysts. The North Sea Brent contract for delivery in November gained 2.2% to $94.47 per barrel while that on WTI listed in New York advanced 3.5% to $93.56 per barrel.

On the value side, TotalEnergies gained 1.65%, taking off at the end of the session, after announcing around 3 p.m. that its share buybacks would amount to $9 billion over the whole of 2023 while increasing its outlook on return to shareholders. The action may also have been helped by the rise in oil prices.

Voltalia plunged 15.7% after revising downwards its gross operating profit target for 2023 due to a power outage in Brazil in mid-August which penalized the network connections of its power plants.

Arkema gained 3.15% after revealing its ambitions for 2028, targeting in particular 12 billion euros in turnover and a gross operating margin (Ebitda) of 18%.

Teleperformance lost 3% while UBS went from “buy” to “neutral” on the stock, judging that the outsourced customer relations group faces “a long battle” to regain market confidence.

On currencies, the euro continues to decline against the dollar, losing another 0.5% to 1.0524 dollars, the lowest since the end of 2022.