(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange ended this week in decline, scalded by the tone used by Jerome Powell, considered a little more restrictive by the market. Also weighed down by Sanofi and Publicis, the CAC 40 finds itself below 7,300 points, and shows a weekly drop of more than 0.9%.

The Paris Stock Exchange ends the week on a very dull note. The CAC 40 ended down 0.58% at 7,269.63 points this Friday evening. On a weekly basis, the results are not much better, since the flagship Parisian index lost 0.94%, undermined by its decline of 2.69% on Tuesday, its worst session since July 2023.

The markets took note of a new battery of American statistics this Friday afternoon, including retail sales for the month of October. A key measure of American consumer sentiment, they increased by 0.4% compared to September, and thus slightly exceeded the expectations of economists (+0.3%). The September figures were revised upwards, with an increase of 0.8% against an initial forecast of 0.4%.

Words that shock the market

“It was the September revisions that really stood out. Initially, the previous month’s data was already significantly above estimates, and has now been revised upwards further. This reflects the resilience of US consumers, despite some economic data which raises doubts about the state of the economy”, says Bret Kenwell, American markets analyst for eToro.

It is in this context that investors digested the words of the President of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell. The central banker said Thursday evening that “the economy is not sending signals that we should rush to lower rates.”

“The strength we are currently seeing in the economy allows us to approach our decisions with caution. Ultimately, the trajectory of policy rates will depend on the evolution of economic data and outlook,” he added . These statements were considered restrictive by the market.

“It was a cold shower of reality for stock traders, who had pushed US stocks to an 11-year high after Trump’s victory,” says Spi AM’s Stephen Innes.

Sanofi and Publicis in difficulty

On the value side, Sanofi pulled the CAC 40 down and fell 3.3%. Like other stocks in the pharmaceutical world – Sartorius Stedim Biotech lost 6.7% and Valneva 6.8% – the stock was penalized by the appointment of Robert Kennedy Jr, a notorious vaccine skeptic, at the head of the US Department of Health.

This appointment also rocked the advertising sector, which is also in the sights of Robert Kennedy Jr, because it is threatened by a ban on advertising for prescription drugs in the United States. The biggest drop in the CAC 40, Publicis fell by 5.4%.

Excluding CAC 40, Vallourec gained 6.4% after publishing quarterly results showing faster than expected deleveraging, according to Oddo BHF.

Nexans fell 4.5%, suffering from the sale of shares by Bpifrance.

On other markets, the euro gained 0.25% against the dollar to 1.0556 dollars. Oil is falling. The January contract on North Sea Brent fell 1.5% to $71.58 per barrel while the December contract on WTI listed in New York returned 1.7% to $67.55 per barrel.