(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index ended up 0.7% on Wednesday evening, thus erasing part of the ground conceded on Tuesday after inflation figures in the United States which dampened market enthusiasm.

On this Valentine’s Day characterized by a very pronounced red, investors have reconciled themselves to the green of the rise. The CAC 40 finished up 0.68% to return to contact with its closing records, at 7,677.35 points. An increase which is welcome and which allows it to regain a good part of the ground conceded the day before (-0.8%).

Investors took a step back from the latest US inflation data which disappointed the markets on Wednesday.

“The US inflation figures are very bad. Total inflation is slowing less than expected and remains above 3%, because underlying inflation is stagnating close to 4%, twice above the target of the Fed (American Federal Reserve). In addition, inflation is accelerating sequentially (from one month to the next, Editor’s note) and the increase in prices comes from the least volatile categories (housing and services excluding housing) “, develops Xavier Chapard of LBPM.

This figure had a notable consequence: greatly weakening the probability given by the market to future rate cuts by the Fed. According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, the market assigns an 8.5% probability to a rate cut at the March meeting and 37% to the one ending on May 1.

Capgemini seduces the market

Investors continue to analyze the latest company publications. Capgemini signed the hit of the day with an increase of 6.7%. The group published better than expected growth and above all indicated that it expected an improvement in its dynamics from the second quarter of 2024.

Up at mid-session, M6 finally ended down slightly by 0.25%. The market took note of slightly better than expected advertising revenues in the fourth quarter without being moved by the announcement of the departure in April of Nicolas de Tavernost, its chairman of the board, who will be replaced by the head of commercial activities, David Larramendy .

“At the head of the company for 25 years, he was appreciated by the markets for his cost control, which allowed M6 to outperform its peers in particular in terms of ROCE (return on capital employed, Editor’s note)”, underlines the independent research firm AlphaValue. The financial intermediary salutes a “long-reigning” leader who has been “well perceived” by the market.

Cement specialist Vicat was the second star of the day (+4.2%), benefiting from a good publication of its 2023 results, certainly helped by a lenient basis of comparison.

Elsewhere in Europe, Heineken (-6.3%) was under pressure on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The brewer delivered a disappointing outlook for 2024, after posting disappointing fourth-quarter sales.

On other markets, the euro is stable against the dollar, at 1.0704 dollars. Oil turned slightly lower after the announcement of a very strong increase in crude oil stocks last week. The April contract lost 0.1% to $82.65 per barrel, while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York also lost 0.1% to $77.77 per barrel.