(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index lost 1.36% this Friday, weighed down by the plunge of the pharmaceutical group, a heavyweight on the Parisian stock market. Some good surprises are to be noted (still) in the publications.

It’s a Friday to forget for the CAC 40. The Parisian index fell 1.36% to 6,795.38 points. Certainly the other major European indices also fell, but the CAC 40 lost more, because Sanofi’s fall of 19% – the strongest in decades for the pharmaceutical group, according to AFP – further weighed down the flagship barometer of Stock exchange of Paris.

And over the week as a whole, with this mediocre Friday, the CAC 40 finished in the red (-0.31%).

“It was another difficult week for the European stock markets, which should once again end in the red due to concerns about the economy,” Craig Erlam of Oanda had anticipated.

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A PCE index that does not reassure

At the macroeconomic level, the markets dissected the PCE index for the month of September, the preferred index of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) to measure inflation.

The “core” figure – excluding food and energy prices – increased over one month by 0.3%, accelerating compared to August (+0.1%) but in line with expectations. However, the publication also shows that households accelerated their spending with an increase of 0.7% compared to 0.4% the previous month, and which this time is higher than expectations.

“The larger gains in real consumption and the core PCE price index in September are a potential concern for Fed officials, but won’t be enough to convince them to start raising interest rates again this week next”, during its meeting, dissects Capital Economics.

The market also continued to analyze Thursday’s meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB). The European institution, as expected, kept its key rates unchanged and its president, Christine Lagarde, explained that a discussion on cuts was “premature”.

“Investors have been concerned about the Eurozone economy for some time and it appears that the ECB shares these concerns. While this may spare the zone the added pressure of higher rates in the medium term, for the At this moment, the threat of recession is real and this is weighing on the region’s stock markets”, judges Craig Erlam.

Sanofi seizes the market

But the news this Friday was mainly punctuated by Sanofi which therefore fell by 18.93%. The group published results below expectations, disappointed with its profit forecast for 2024 and threw away a margin target for 2025. This fall shows that even the large capitalizations of the CAC 40 – Sanofi was the fifth stock the most important on this parameter on the Paris Stock Exchange before this day – are not immune to violent warning shots from investors. The one-day shortfalls recently accused by Worldline (-59%) and Alstom (-37.58%) have so far concerned the “smallest” values ​​of the CAC 40.

Apart from Sanofi, there are still some good surprises on the CAC 40. Vinci gained 1.5% after delivering a solid third quarter and raising its cash generation target.

Saint-Gobain gained 3.1% while the group, at the end of its third quarter publication, indicated that it anticipated a record margin this year.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield advanced 3.4% after raising its target for adjusted recurring net income per share.

Excluding the CAC 40, Rémy Cointreau lost 11.3% after seeing its sales decline more sharply than expected by analysts in the quarter from July to September, and revising downwards its objectives for the current financial year.

Ubisoft in good shape

Conversely, Ubisoft gained 8.4%, driven by good half-year results thanks to the performance of games that have not been released recently. and a few launches (The Crew, the latest Assassin’s Creed).

Air France-KLM, for its part, experienced strong volatility ending up slightly (+0.35%) after losing up to 7.3% and falling to a historic low at the start of the morning. Although good in absolute terms, the group’s results were lower than expected.

On the smaller cap side, Xilam Animation plunged 58.7% after lowering its outlook.

On other markets, the euro gained 0.3% against the dollar at 1.0596 dollars. Oil prices are increasing, with the December contract on North Sea Brent advancing 0.6% to $87.56, while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York is up 0.75% at 83.37 dollars per barrel.