(News Bulletin 247) – After suffering the day before, the Parisian index moved up very slightly at mid-session. Saint-Gobain shines while Airbus falls back after missing the boat on its results.

The CAC 40 is still convalescing. The Parisian index rose 0.27% to 8,038.45 points this Friday at mid-session, while investors continue to digest a shower of results. The day before, the CAC 40 had lost 0.9% and gained 0.1% for the week as a whole.

“Despite the uncertainties linked to geopolitical tensions and the rise in interest rates linked to doubts about future rate cuts from the Fed, risky assets are still resisting. The technology sector is even recovering, still driven by satisfactory results and the promises of demand associated with the development of artificial intelligence”, explains Xavier Chapard of LBPAM.

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D-day for France’s score

Investors will pay attention to the release of the PCE index, the US Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge for measuring inflation. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal anticipate an increase of 2.7% excluding food and energy prices.

They will also monitor the verdict of several rating agencies on France’s debt rating, with decisions from Moody’s and Fitch expected.

“A downgrade is unlikely, but it is possible that either of these agencies could lower the rating outlook from stable to negative. This would be a bad signal for the government although the impact on markets is expected to be very limited”, estimates Xavier Chapard.

In a note published Tuesday, Pictet actually perceived risks limited by the French debt. The bank judges that despite the slippage in public finances, the yield gap on 10-year debt securities between Germany and France could be around 60 basis points (0.6 percentage points) at end of the year, compared to 50 basis points currently.

Sain-Gobain stands out

The market is also digesting a new burst of results. With good news, on the side of Saint-Gobain which gained 6.3% after delivering satisfactory revenues and indicating that several markets are close to an inflection point.

And less good, on the Airbus side, which fell by 1.9% after having quite clearly missed expectations for its first quarter, even if its results were penalized by a series of exceptional elements.

Totalenergies progressed a little (+0.5%) after publishing results very slightly above expectations in the first quarter. Above all, its CEO Patrick Pouyanné admitted to Bloomberg that the company was considering transferring its main listing to New York rather than Paris, to get closer to its shareholder base and distance itself from a cautious Europe. regarding its strategy in renewable energies.

On other markets, the euro is almost stable against the dollar at 1.0735 dollars. Oil is moving forward a little. The contract on North Sea Brent gained 0.4% to $88.14 per barrel, while that on WTI listed in New York gained 0.4% to $83.91 per barrel.