(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index closed higher this Friday but showed a lackluster record for the month of November (-1.57%) due to the political crisis in France which added to fears of an increase customs duties in the United States.

The Paris Stock Exchange ends this trying month on a good note. The CAC 40 finally rebounded by 0.78%, allowing it to end the month of November above 7,200 points, at 7,235.11 points.

However, the Parisian star index was standing still at midday. The inspiration came from Wall Street and its indices which are moving upwards for this truncated session, the American market will close its doors the day after Thanksgiving at 1 p.m. local time (i.e. 7 p.m. in Paris).

However, this burst of pride does not prevent the CAC 40 from posting a new week of decline (-0.27%), the sixth in a row. And over one month, it’s not much better since it drops by 1.57%. It must be said that the French stock markets were battered by the threat of an increase in customs duties by Donald Trump and the political risk in France during this eleventh month of the year.

In this context, investors are feverishly awaiting the S&P agency’s verdict on the French sovereign debt rating this Friday evening.

Sparse business news

In terms of statistics, it was a day of inflation in Europe. Calculated according to European standards, consumer prices in the euro zone in November increased by 2.3%, in line with the consensus, and after 2% in October. Underlying inflation appears stable at 2.7%, which is slightly lower than consensus expectations of 2.8%.

“Headline inflation is up in November as expected, but the stability of core inflation is the positive surprise from this preliminary inflation report. Above all, disinflation in services is resuming and this movement will have to intensify in the coming months so that inflation can reach its target in a sustainable manner,” notes Juliette Cohen, strategist at CPRAM.

“The ECB is expected to carry out a further rate cut of 25 basis points at its meeting on December 12. The increased confidence in the disinflation process as well as the weak growth dynamic of the euro zone justify the continued withdrawal of the character restrictive monetary policy,” she continues.

On the business side, the news was very sparse. Elior gained 5.9%, benefiting from a boost from JP Morgan, which raised its opinion to overweight and its price target from 3.50 euros to 4.50 euros.

Elis ended slightly down 0.5%, the industrial laundry specialist announced the acquisition of the Spanish group Carsan.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro is down slightly by 0.1% against the greenback at 1.0546 dollars. On the oil side, it is evolving in a dispersed order. The January contract on Brent from the North Sea lost 0.3% to 72.58 dollars per barrel while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York nibbled 0.1% to 68.80 dollars per barrel.