(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange ends this Friday and therefore the week below 8,100 points. The trend was undermined by investor uncertainty over the timing of future Fed rate cuts.

The Paris Stock Exchange ends the week on a dull note. The CAC 40 lost 0.09%, stuck below 8,100 points at 8,094.97 points.

The Parisian index limited the damage after the publication of the consumer confidence index from the University of Michigan. Operators were attentive to the sub-index of one-year inflation expectations, which turned out to be lower than expected, at 3.3% against initial estimates of 3.5%.

But on a weekly basis the trend remained clearly negative, with the CAC 40 ending in decline (-0.89%) for the second consecutive week.

Macroeconomics has undoubtedly dominated stock market debates. The Minutes published by the Fed on Wednesday evening were the starting point for these fears, since some members of the institution even mentioned the possibility of further tightening monetary policy in the event that inflation still remained stubborn. An observation which was supported by solid American statistics published on Thursday, particularly on the front of private sector activity, which pushes back the deadline for a first rate cut by the Fed.

Good news is now interpreted as bad and vice versa. “This week has highlighted the particular psychology that drives market dynamics in periods devoid of significant macroeconomic events. This week, investors attempted to analyze the news available – from Federal Reserve minutes to PMI data in going through Nvidia’s results”, notes Florian Ielpo, head of macroeconomic research at Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

“Stocks performed flat to negative as strong economic indicators led to reduced expectations for Fed rate cuts, affecting both bonds and stocks,” he summarizes.

Note that the American markets are slightly better prepared to end the week on a better note after their decline the day before. At the close of European markets, the Dow Jones gained 0.3%, the S&P 500 gained 0.7% when the Nadsaq rebounded by 1% before a long weekend since Monday May 27 will be a holiday for Memorial Day .

Compagnie des Alpes all schuss

In Paris, business news is still sparse. At the top of the CAC 40, we find Renault (+5.2%) supported by a rating from UBS which abandoned its sell recommendation and moved it to neutral.

Vusiongroup returned 10%, after an attack by the Shadowfall hedge fund, which accused the former SES-imagotag of accounting irregularities, according to the Dow Jones agency. The company reacted to these attacks with News Bulletin 247 and denounces this “new market manipulation”, which it believes is “totally unfounded”.

As for medium and small companies, Compagnie des Alpes climbed 8.4%, after a solid half-yearly publication and the increase in its main profitability indicator for its entire staggered 2023-2024 financial year.

On other markets, the euro rose 0.35% to 1.0850 dollars. Oil prices are rebounding. The July North Sea Brent contract gained 1% to $82.14 per barrel, while that of the same maturity on WTI gained 1.1% to $77.72 per barrel.