(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange has regained color, while company publications livened up the session this Thursday. With an increase of 0.7% at the close, the CAC 40 is once again conquering 7,700 points.

The Paris Stock Exchange had a busy day of company publications without a hitch. The CAC 40 rebounded by 0.71% at the close, to get closer to 7,700 points at 7,665.63 points.

Investors had something to worry about between Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Kering, which made a copy to the taste of the markets when Crédit Agricole SA greatly disappointed.

On the macroeconomy, operators took note of the traditional weekly unemployment registrations in the afternoon, like every Thursday. They came out lower than expected, at 218,000 registrations against a consensus of 220,000 units and after 227,000 the previous week.

One more statistic which shows the robustness of the labor market in the United States, a week after the publication of an excellent official American employment report.

New jobless claims should also fuel investors’ thoughts on future decisions by major central banks. “The events of recent days have seen markets attempt to digest the fact that rate cuts may have to wait until much later in the year, and what any delay means for asset prices and valuations,” underlines Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve (Fed) President Neel Kashkari said he expected two or three rate cuts from the Fed this year.

Unibail seduces the market, Crédit Agricole sees red

Numerous company publications dominated the stock market debates this Thursday. And it is Kering, which against all expectations closed at the top of the CAC 40 this Thursday (+4.9%), having published a decline in its revenues a little less strong than expected in the fourth quarter and announced investments to revive its flagship brand Gucci.

The luxury group is closely followed by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield which gained 4.75% after announcing the return to a dividend this year for 2023.

Conversely, Crédit Agricole SA had a difficult session and lost 5.7%, after publishing a gross operating result lower than expected, with revenues lower than expected. Societe Generale (-1%) fared better, its accounts having on the contrary been a little better than expected in the fourth quarter.

Excluding the CAC 40, Soitec rebounded by 5.6% even though the group published revenues lower than expected in its delayed third quarter, lowered its outlook for its 2023-2024 financial year and postponed its target by one year. revenue of $2.1 billion, initially expected for the 2025-2026 financial year. But the group also announced a new customer for its SmartSiC technology, a silicon carbide substrate.

On other markets, the euro fell by 0.1% against the dollar to 1.0768 dollars. Oil soars after new tensions in the Middle East. The North Sea Brent contract for April rebounded 2.6% to $81.28 per barrel while the March contract recovered 2.7% to $75.88 per barrel.