(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange begins this new week with hesitant steps, cooled by the latest statements from the President of the Fed on potential rate cuts from March. The CAC 40 is gradually moving away from 7,600 points this Monday evening.

The CAC 40 did not take many risks to start the week. The Parisian index closed this Monday, February 5, not far from balance (-0.03%) at 7,589.96 points.

The market takes note of the speech by the president of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) on Sunday. Jerome Powell declared that the Fed should give itself time to see “if the data confirms that inflation is falling towards 2% in a sustainable manner”, on the American program “60 Minutes”. “We want to approach this issue with caution,” he added, according to comments reported by the Reuters news agency.

Rates are tightening

Jerome Powell is therefore calling the end of recess on possible rate cuts from March. The last investors who were still clinging to the idea of ​​such a decision therefore saw their hopes completely disappear after the Sunday release of the Fed pilot.

“Raphael Bostic, the president of the Atlanta Fed, was one of the first members of the Federal Reserve to speak out after Jerome Powell’s dovish intervention (restrictive, editor’s note) in December to correct the situation and the expectations of market”, recalls Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis at IG France.

“The resilience of the American economy and the very good employment report last week prove him right for the moment, which increases his credibility with the markets,” continues Alexandre Baradez, who recalls that Raphael Bostic will speak at again this evening at 8 p.m. and that “there is no doubt that the markets will carefully monitor his comments”.

On the bond market, the 10-year American debt rate continues its rise to 4.166% after rebounding to 4% in reaction to a solid report on American employment on Friday.

In Europe, the trend is identical with the yield on 10-year French debt rising to 2.816%, after closing at 2.723% on Friday evening.

Many CAC 40 groups will publish this week

The week will be especially marked by numerous company publications, with around ten CAC 40 companies due to unveil their results starting on Thursday, including Totalenergies, Vinci, L’Oréal, Hermès and Société Générale and Crédit Agricole SA.

This Monday, Atos experienced a nightmare session (-28.95%) after announcing that it intended to request the appointment of an ad hoc agent to facilitate dialogue with its creditors. This revives market concerns as the group faces a wall of debt of 3.6 billion euros maturing in 2024 and 2025.

Orpea gained 4.4% after announcing a consolidation of shares in packages of 1,000, which should reduce the number of shares in circulation to 156 million against currently 156 billion(!).

Valneva limits its progress to 0.7% while the vaccine specialist announced that it had resold a priority review voucher obtained in the United States for an amount of $103 million, thus respecting what it had previously communicated to the market.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.5% against the dollar to 1.0729 dollars. Oil is hesitating this Monday. The North Sea Brent contract for delivery in April is stable at $77.34 per barrel, while the March contract for WTI listed on the New York Stock Exchange lost 0.2% to $72.14 per barrel.