(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange continues its decline, little helped by a difficult start to the corporate publication season. The CAC 40 ended down 0.40% at 7,492 points, weighed down by its flagship luxury sector.

Investors would have preferred a better start to this fall earnings season. The CAC 40 escaped with a few scratches and closed down 0.4% below 7,500 points this Wednesday, at 7,492 points.

It must be said that the luxury sector was on the front line and at the origin of the declines in the flagship Parisian index, including LVMH which was the first resident of the CAC 40 to submit its copy on Tuesday evening. And it disappointed. Its revenues fell by 3% like-for-like in the third quarter when analysts were expecting an increase of 1% on the same basis.

After falling 7% at the start of the session, the number one luxury goods company, the largest capitalization on the Paris Stock Exchange, ended down 3.7%. In the wake of LVMH, Hermès lost 1.3% while Kering returned 0.8%.

The ECB in the crosshairs

Investors are also awaiting other meetings of the week, in particular the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday.

“Caution prevails in Europe as investors await the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) this Thursday, during which a rate cut of 25 basis points (0.25 percentage points) is widely anticipated, bringing the deposit rate at 3.25%”, recalls Grégoire Kounawski, investment strategy advisor at Norman K.

“There is very little doubt about the outcome of the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) this Thursday. It will be a rate cut of 25 basis points even if some of the most hawkish members of the governing council have left doubt in recent days, like Slovenian Governor Boštjan Vasle”, explains William Gerlach at iBanFirst.

“Apart from the highly anticipated decision of the ECB, the start of the corporate results season could generate more volatility,” adds Grégoire Kounawski. On Wall Street, Morgan Stanley passed the quarterly results test with flying colors and gained more than 7% at the close of European markets. The American bank revealed results above expectations in the third quarter, thanks to dynamic activity in investment banking.

Ipsos, Rexel and Eramet, losing trifecta

As for Parisian values ​​excluding luxury, Teleperformance jumped 8.7%, supported by Kepler Cheuvreux who switched to buying the value. Stellantis finished close to breakeven at 12,008 euros after indicating that its deliveries had fallen by 20% in the third quarter.

Outside of the CAC 40, it’s a bit of a slaughter. Rexel returned 3.1% and when Ipsos dropped 13.1%, both companies having lowered one or more of their objectives for 2024.

The biggest drop in the SBF 120, Eramet fell by more than 14% after revising downwards its nickel and manganese production targets.

On other markets, the euro returned 0.2% against the dollar to 1.0871 dollars. Oil is falling a little. The December North Sea Brent contract lost 0.5% to $73.89 per barrel while the November WTI contract lost 0.7% to $70.11 per barrel.