(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris index took a hit on Thursday as many groups were penalized after the publication of their results. The good surprise on American growth and on an inflation indicator did not weigh much in the balance.

A difficult Thursday for the Paris Stock Exchange, the Parisian market was weighed down by a veritable red tide of poorly received publications for the first half of the year.

Several CAC 40 members completely missed their meeting, such as STMicroelectronics, Renault, Stellantis Kering and Carrefour, to name a few. The Paris index was logically swept away by the ambient gloom, and fell 1.15% this Thursday evening, to 7,427.02 points, after having lost more than 2.3% to 7,341.25 points at the lowest point of the day.

A technical correction

The CAC 40 is limiting the damage a little, thanks to Wall Street, which is trying to rebound after a nightmarish session. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 had suffered losses of 2.31%, its biggest drop since December 2022, when the Nasdaq had dropped 3.6%.

The latest macroeconomic data has brought some comfort to investors worried about corporate results and the health of the world’s largest economy. American growth was indeed stronger than expected in the second quarter. According to an initial estimate from the Commerce Department, US GDP grew by 2.8%, at an annualized rate in the second quarter, which is higher than the consensus (+1.6%).

As for the PCE price index, it stood at 2.9% in the second quarter against a consensus of 2.7%, and after 3.7% in the first quarter. A good omen before the publication on Friday of this same inflation indicator, but only for the month of June, which is closely monitored by the American Federal Reserve.

However, the results are not great for the CAC 40, which has lost more than 10% (10.1% precisely) since its historic high reached on May 10, at 8,259.19 points. It has entered a “technical correction” phase, and has therefore fallen back to its lowest levels since the end of January.

STMicroelectronics and the automotive sector in sharp decline

The biggest decliner in the CAC 40 index, STMicroelectronics plunged 13.7% after again lowering its revenue target for fiscal 2024 due to a depressed automotive market.

The automobile industry is also at the forefront of the biggest declines in the leading index of the Paris Stock Exchange. Stellantis lost 8.7% after publishing plummeting results for the first six months of the year. Renault dropped 7.5%, penalized by the lowering of Nissan’s outlook and the fact that it did not raise its own targets.

Kering also fell by 7.5%, while the group warned that its profitability would fall further in the second half.

Vivendi returned 6.1%, weighed down by the disappointing results of Universal Music Group, in which it still holds 10% of the capital. The record company collapsed by more than 21% on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Carrefour lost 4.8%, as investors were not very pleased with the distributor’s weak profitability in Europe in the first half of the year.

Totalenergies limited its decline to 0.8%, the oil major having also revealed quarterly accounts below expectations.

Among the few values ​​on the rise, we find Sanofi (+4.2%), behind Michelin (+4.85%). The pharmaceutical laboratory reassured the market after raising its profit forecast for the whole of 2024.

On other markets, the euro gained 0.2% against the dollar to 1.0860 dollars. Oil recovered some color. The September contract on North Sea Brent gained 0.2% to 81.86 dollars per barrel while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York gained 0.6% to 78.06 dollars per barrel.