(News Bulletin 247) – With a gain of 0.35% on Friday, the Paris Stock Exchange is showing a rise of 2.48% on a weekly basis. A series of favorable economic data in the United States has allowed the CAC 40 to return to the 7,400 point threshold.

It’s a four in a row for the Paris Stock Exchange. The CAC 40 closed up 0.35% at 7,449.70 points this Friday evening, at the end of a session still marked by a final batch of American statistics.

On the housing front, US housing starts and building permits came in below expectations in July. These data dampened sentiment slightly, before positive data on consumer sentiment boosted the Paris index. According to preliminary data from the University of Michigan, the US consumer confidence index improved to 67.8 points in August, from 66.4 points in July.

On Wall Street, the trend is a little mixed, the Dow Jones is stable at 40,555.38 points, the S&P loses 0.1%, as does the Nasdaq, which are catching their breath after a nice series of increases. Despite this slight dip, the three major American indices are heading for their best week since the beginning of November 2023, notes MarketWatch.

A week with a positive outcome

Overall, the results of this salvo of publications are indeed rather positive. Operators were able to reassure themselves about the health of the American economy with a series of data relating to prices, employment and consumption. They have helped to calm, for the moment, fears of the American economy entering a recession, concerns that were at the origin of a violent movement on the markets at the beginning of the month.

“In the wake of these figures, markets have eliminated a large part of the recession premium that had formed at the beginning of the month and have posted strong gains on almost all fronts, both in equities and credit,” said Florian Ielpo, head of macroeconomic research at Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

“All in all, it was a one-way week in which it was not good to be pessimistic – next week will probably let the markets catch their breath, teaching us more about the strength of this newfound optimism,” the specialist continues.

On a weekly basis, the Paris Stock Exchange gained 2.48%, thus achieving its best week since July 1 (+2.62%). A gain that also allowed it to contain its decline, at 1.4%, since the beginning of the year. The pan-European Eurostoxx 600 index gained just as much over the week (+2.46%), thus recording its best weekly progression since May.

Markets have had a chance to reassess their forecasts for the size of the US Federal Reserve’s rate cut in September, in light of this renewed optimism about the health of the US economy. They believe that the monetary institution will not need to make a more drastic turn of the screw next month. According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are now assigning a 76.5% probability to a 25 basis point (0.25 percentage point) cut in September, compared to 49% last week.

Saint-Gobain goes shopping

In corporate news, Stellantis ended the week down 0.6%, as U.S. shareholders filed a lawsuit against the automaker.

Saint-Gobain rose 0.7% after announcing that it was strengthening its position in construction chemicals with the acquisition of the Mexican group Ovniver Group.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro gained 0.2% against the dollar to 1.0995 dollars. Oil remained in a bad direction, bowing under fears about global demand. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in October, fell 1.5% to 79.85 dollars while that of WTI for delivery the same month, fell 1.7%, to 76.80 dollars. Note the rebound of gold which rose 1.3%, to 2,487.50 dollars an ounce, after having registered a new absolute record at 2,500.16 dollars an ounce this Friday afternoon.