(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange ends the week on a dull note, while the PMI indices in the euro zone fell in June. On a weekly basis, the results are much better (+1.67%).

Bearish end of week on the Paris Stock Exchange, with the CAC 40 ending down 0.56% at 7,628.57 points. The Parisian index recovered significantly at the end of its run, after losing 0.9% and reaching a low of 7,602 points shortly after the opening of the American markets.

The session was also marked by high volatility, with the four witches – an exceptional trading day during which four types of derivatives expire simultaneously.

Investors took note this Friday of the publication of the PMI indices, leading indicators of private sector activity, at half mast in the euro zone in June. The composite index, which brings together services and manufacturing activities, fell to 50.8 from 52.2 in May. Remember that an index at 50 marks the border between a contraction and an expansion of activity.

France’s composite PMI rose from 48.9 to 48.2 in June. “The uncertainty linked to the next legislative elections is causing a certain paralysis among French companies, which fear a deterioration in the economy,” explains Norman Libeke, economist at the Hamburg Commercial Bank, which compiles this data with S&P.

“In fact, some respondents to the survey attribute the decline in their activity to the upcoming elections, while demand is also trending downward, as evidenced by the first decrease in new business in three months in the service sector,” he adds. Capital Economics qualifies the impact of the elections on the French figure. “We will not (…) emphasize this point too much, because the French PMI index started to fall in May, before the start of the political unrest,” explains the think tank.

On a weekly basis, the results are a little more flattering with the CAC 40 gaining 1.67%. This performance, however, remains insufficient to erase the heavy decline (-6%) recorded by the Parisian index last week, due to political uncertainty in France.

Better for Danone

On the values ​​side, Danone finished at the top of the CAC 40 (+2%) after having suffered the day before from the presentation to the market of objectives without good surprises.

Capgemini caught its breath (-1.3%) the day after gains of 3% on Thursday. The action of the French digital services company had benefited from the very good quarterly publication of Accenture, its American-Irish competitor.

On the small and mid-cap side, Plastivaloire plunged 16.7%, to close at its lowest since the end of 2013 after warning on its results for its staggered 2023-2024 financial year. In question, the delay concerning the launch of three major contracts for its automobile division.

On other markets, the euro dropped 0.2% against the dollar, to 1.0688 dollars. Oil is close to equilibrium. The August contract on Brent from the North Sea lost 0.08% to 85.64 dollars per barrel, while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York was almost stable at 81.19 dollars per barrel.