(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 closed with a symbolic drop of 0.03% this Friday evening after the publication of a key statistic on American inflation likely to reassure the markets. The Parisian index, however, lost 0.37% on a weekly basis after its recent records. The markets will take a break for four days, returning to service on Wednesday, December 27.

A boring session for the CAC 40 before a long four-day Christmas weekend. The Parisian index, in search of direction throughout the session, ended close to balance (-0.03%) at 7,568.82 points, after the publication of a key statistic on American inflation.

This indicator barely raised eyebrows at the flagship Parisian index, which was already ahead of the end-of-year festivities, given the low volumes traded (1.9 billion euros).

The PCE price index, the most followed by the American Federal Reserve (Fed), fell against all expectations by 0.1% in November. On an annual basis, the increase is limited to 2.6% year-on-year in November, compared to 2.9% the previous month.

Excluding volatile elements such as energy and food, the basic “core PCE” inflation index stands at 3.2%, against a consensus of 3.3% and after 3.4% in October.

The slowdown in inflation in the United States is therefore beginning to materialize very clearly. “Inflation is slowly moving back toward the Fed’s year-over-year target. But considering the recent slowdown in PCE data, it’s safe to say we’re already there. Over the past three months, the PCE index “Basic value increased at an average annualized rate of 2.1%,” notes Callie Cox, US markets analyst at eToro.

Investors are therefore reassured by this indicator relating to American inflation before a long four-day weekend, December 26 being traditionally a public holiday on the Paris Stock Exchange, in addition to December 25, Christmas Day. Above all, the PCE index maintains fairly aggressive market expectations of key rate cuts from major central banks next year.

According to the CME Fed Watch tool, traders give a nearly 90% probability of a rate cut as early as next March.

These hopes also fueled the recent progression of the CAC 40, marked by two records in session (7,653.99 points) and at closing (7,596.91 points) the week of December 11. But for this week, the star index preferred to take a breath and concede a little ground (-0.37%), before taking a four-day break. The Paris Stock Exchange will therefore reopen its doors on Wednesday December 27, whether or not to add points to its increase of almost 17% over the whole year.

Nexity, a concrete session

On the value side, Nexity recorded a nice increase (+10.75%) after announcing that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the asset manager Bridgepoint to sell its property administration activities to it on the basis of a value business of 440 million euros.

Ubisoft limited its decline to 1.45%, penalized by new restrictions envisaged by the Chinese authorities to curb player spending in online games. Its Chinese partner and video game giant Tencent lost 12.35% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

On other markets, the euro is in balance against the dollar at 1.1012 dollars. Oil is losing ground slightly. The February contract on North Sea Brent returns 0.5% to $79 per barrel while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York loses 0.3% to $73.64 per barrel.