(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange is moving in a very slight decline at mid-session. Buoyed by the launch of a share buyback program, Eurofins is making progress.

The Paris Stock Exchange has entered this end-of-year holiday period during which volumes and announcements tend to be lacking.

Without much surprise, the Parisian market is giving in to sluggishness. The CAC 40 is thus close to balance at the start of the afternoon, gaining 0.2% to 7,290.69 points.

The market continues to digest the latest economic data, including the PCE index, an alternative measure of inflation favored by the US Federal Reserve (Fed). This index came out slightly below expectations in the United States on Friday, which reassured the market a little.

Investors are also keeping an eye on the political situation in France. The Prime Minister, François Bayrou, has still not named a government and no announcement is expected before Monday 6 p.m., according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

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Vusiongroup stands out

In terms of values, the big announcement of the day is to be found in Japan where Nissan and Honda have formalized their discussions with a view to a merger which should be completed in August 2026. Renault, which owns 35.7% of the capital of Nissan reacted little (-0.3%).

Its stock rose well last week when Japanese media outlet Nikkei reported the existence of these discussions, because a merger would give it more options to sell its stake in Nissan.

Eurofins takes 2.36% and signs the biggest increase in the CAC 40 after announcing a fourth share buyback program.

Bureau Veritas, which is having its first session this Monday on the CAC 40, gains 1% while Vivendi, which was ejected, takes 0.6%.

Excluding CAC 40, Vusiongroup jumped 16% after announcing an extension of its collaboration with Walmart which will result in additional orders of 1 billion euros.

On other markets, the euro lost 0.35% against the dollar to 1.0393 dollars. Oil is falling a little. The February contract on North Sea Brent lost 0.3% to $72.73 per barrel while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York lost 0.2% to $69.31 per barrel.