(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris index ended with a modest decline on Thursday, as investors analyzed the minutes of the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting. The market will turn its attention to the speech by its chairman, Jerome Powell, which will be delivered on Friday in Jackson Hole.

After a sharp rise in mid-session, the CAC 40 lost momentum in the afternoon. The Paris index finally ended the day on Thursday stable or almost (-0.01%) at 7,524.11 points.

Investors continued to dissect the “minutes”, or minutes, of the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve (Fed). Published on Wednesday evening, this document showed that the members of the American central bank were considering raising key rates very soon.

“The minutes indicate that rate cuts are likely to begin in September if data continues to match expectations,” Barclays said. The British bank expects three 25 basis point (0.25 percentage point) rate cuts this year, followed by three more 25 basis point cuts in 2025. According to CME Group’s Fedwatch tool, investors are anticipating total rate cuts of 100 basis points in 2024.

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Biomérieux stands out

For the market, these “minutes” constituted the aperitif before the hors d’oeuvre, which will take place on Friday.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at the Jackson Hole symposium, which, as is often the case, is highly anticipated. The central banker could “provide broad clues about the central bank’s monetary policy, including the size of the rate cut anticipated in September and possible additional reductions before the end of the year,” explains Ricardo Evangelista of Activtrades.

Investors also took note of the latest economic data. Among these data, the composite PMI, which measures private sector services and manufacturing activity, accelerated in the euro zone in August, to 51.2 from 50.2 in July. But economists put this increase in perspective, which is partly explained by the impact of the Paris Olympics. In the United States, new weekly jobless claims registered at 232,000 in the week ended August 17, slightly higher than the Reuters consensus of 230,000.

In terms of values, there was no major movement on the CAC 40. Teleperformance recorded a progression of 1.9%, the biggest increase, while Arcelormittal lost 1.1%, the biggest decrease.

Outside the CAC 40, Biomérieux rose by 5.6%, supported by the initiation of coverage on the purchase of UBS shares.

On other markets, the euro fell by 0.35% against the dollar at 1.1112 dollars. Oil gained ground. The October contract on North Sea Brent advanced by 1.7% to 77.33 dollars per barrel while the same contract on WTI listed in New York also gained 1.7% to 73.16 dollars per barrel.