(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange gained more than 1%, returning to 7,400 points after the publication of solid data on employment and consumption in the United States.

Hesitant at mid-session, the Paris Stock Exchange accelerated upwards after a salvo of macroeconomic indicators pushed back the prospect of a recession in the United States.

The CAC 40 is currently jumping by 1.27%, to return to 7,400 points, at 7,426.47 points on this deserted Thursday.

Retail sales, a barometer of the health of the American consumer, have indeed defied forecasts. They rose by 1% over one month in July, exploding the consensus which was counting on a much more modest increase of +0.2%. In June, retail sales had fallen by 0.2%.

An American consumer still active

Coincidentally, this statistic happened to collide with the publication of Walmart’s quarterly results. And the world’s largest retailer also came to calm market fears about the behavior of American consumers. It raised its outlook for the current year after revealing quarterly results that exceeded expectations.

At the opening of the American markets, Walmart shares jumped 7.6%, to set a new historic record of 74.44 dollars.

“We’re not seeing any further deterioration in consumer health,” Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told CNBC.

On the American employment side, which had been a major concern in recent weeks, the lights are also green. Applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected, to 227,000 the previous week, which is well below the 235,000 applications expected by the consensus cited by Dow Jones.

According to the CME Fed Watch tool, the probability that the Fed will deliver a quarter-percentage-point rate cut rose another notch, to 74.5% from 62.5% after the release of this battery of better-than-expected data.

On the currency side, the euro is down, or more precisely, the dollar is regaining colour in this perspective. The eurozone currency is down 0.54% against the greenback at 1.0951 dollars.

On Wall Street, the indices also opened sharply higher. The Dow Jones rose by 1.1%, as did the Nasdaq, while the S&P 500 gained 0.9%, to return to 5,500 points.