(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 ended sharply higher this Wednesday, with the market satisfied with the ADP report on American employment.

The Paris Stock Exchange continues a second good session this Wednesday. The CAC 40 finished up 0.66% at 7,435.99 points and is only a stone’s throw from its session record of 7,581.26 points (on April 24).

Optimism continues to prevail in the market, which is now beginning to anticipate future key rate cuts from major central banks.

The report from the ADP firm on American employment tended to go in the direction of investors. The number of job creations stood at 103,000 in November, quite far from the consensus compiled by the Wall Street Journal at 128,000 units. This would suggest that employment tensions are easing, leaving room for the American Federal Reserve (Fed) to maintain its key rates before reducing them.

However, these data constitute only an imperfect prelude to the official figures which will be published Friday afternoon.

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Renault in good shape

“There’s no denying that the data at the end of the week – the US jobs report – is the one everyone is looking forward to, but the information released in the meantime fills the void and helps bolster the “the idea that the economy is a little more flexible and price pressures are fading,” says Oanda’s Craig Erlam.

And the ADP data “should be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to Friday’s jobs report and has at times been an extremely unreliable indicator, but it still suggests that employment is down “, he continues.

On the value side, automobiles were in great shape. Renault posted the biggest increase in the CAC 40 (+5.9%), and Stellantis gained 2.9%.

Rémy Cointreau lost 1.6% while bank UBS lowered its advice from “buy” to “neutral”.

On the smaller value side, Catana fell 8% after publishing significantly lower profitability over its entire 2022-2023 financial year, due to inflation and logistical concerns.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.1% against the dollar to $1.079. Oil prices are plummeting. The February contract on North Sea Brent fell 3.4% to 74.61 dollars per barrel, while that of January on WTI listed in New York lost 3.9% to 69.52 dollars per barrel, returning below $70 for the first time since July.