(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index ended with a clear increase this Wednesday, May 8. Hope around Fed rate cuts continued to support risk appetite.

Although volumes were necessarily restricted on May 8, a public holiday in France, the CAC 40 performed well. The Parisian index signed a fourth consecutive increase this Wednesday, increasing by 0.69% to 8,131.41 points.

The Parisian market maintained its good trend during the day while Wall Street struggled to take off. Shortly before the European close, the S&P 500 was almost stable, with a decline of 0.05%.

“Traders witnessed a new series of reassuring corporate results, with strong profits from Siemens (in Germany, Editor’s note) and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (in Belgium, Editor’s note) in the first quarter,” explains Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades.

“At the same time, German industrial production data also beat estimates this morning. It appears the stars are aligning for stock investors this week, as risk appetite is further fueled by strong macroeconomic data, solid earnings and the prospect of rate cuts in the United States,” he continues.

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Alstom up very sharply

In terms of values, the CAC 40 was supported by Axa (+2%), which announced an increase in its share buyback program, by 200 million euros, to bring it to 1.8 billion euros.

Schneider Electric (+2.2%) also lifted the index and is reaching historic highs on the stock market.

Investors have also continued to dissect the results of companies which turn out to be numerous. Alstom gained 9.4%, the market being reassured by the results, the outlook and the debt reduction plan in line with the railway equipment manufacturer’s expectations.

Rubis, on the other hand, fell 4% after reporting “mixed” activity in the first quarter, according to Oddo BHF.

Stellantis lost 1.9%, perhaps driven by the decline in Frankfurt of BMW (-3.2%), the German manufacturer having published a lower margin than expected in its automotive division in the first quarter.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.1% against the dollar at 1.0746 dollars. Oil is grabbing ground. The July contract on North Sea Brent gained 0.2% to $83.31 per barrel while that of June on WTI listed in New York gained 0.3% to $78.62 per barrel.