(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris index is on a second session of growth, thanks to a slew of good corporate results. The CAC 40 is up 0.76% ahead of the monetary decision by the US Federal Reserve.

The Paris Stock Exchange is keeping up the pace, supported by a much better batch of corporate results. The CAC 40 gained 0.76% to 7,531.49 points after having already progressed by 0.42% on Tuesday.

On the macroeconomic side, the latest statistics show an easing of the labor market in the United States. According to the ADP/Standford lab survey, private sector companies created 122,000 jobs in July, which is lower than the 160,000 jobs expected by the consensus.

It is in this context that investors will be attentive to the announcements of the American Federal Reserve which will make its monetary policy decision at the end of its two-day meeting.

According to data from the Fedwatch tool, investors assign a 97% probability that the Fed will hold its policy rate steady on Wednesday. For 2024 as a whole, they anticipate 75 basis points (0.75 percentage points) of rate cuts.

Good copies overall

The CAC 40 is mainly driven by the good publications of its residents. Of the seven companies that published half-year results on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, only Safran (-0.9%) is showing a decline, with the other six being in the green.

L’Oréal gained 2.1% after reporting second-quarter growth that was close to expectations, enough to satisfy a market that may have feared a bigger disappointment.

Airbus jumped 4.8%, thanks to better-than-expected second-quarter results, particularly in terms of cash generation.

Schneider Electric rose 3.1% after raising its margin target for 2024.

The other electrical equipment specialist, Legrand, is not far behind (+6.5%), driven by a rebound in demand for its products for data centers.

But the biggest increase in the CAC 40 was for Teleperformance (10.4%), thanks to an acceleration in its growth in the second quarter that exceeded expectations.

Danone for its part advanced by 2.2% with results judged to be “of good quality” by Oddo BHF in the first half.

Elsewhere, the euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.0821. Oil recovered from near two-month lows on concerns over Chinese demand. The October North Sea Brent contract advanced 3.1 percent to $80.50 a barrel, while the September New York-listed WTI contract soared 3.6 percent to $77.44 a barrel.